The Muscle Drifter
by Shadow55419
Summary: An American muscle car driver comes to Japan and takes on the mountain passes. first Initial D fic, so please R&R and enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

I Don't Own Initial D. you don't believe it, thats your problem...

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

It's a chilly early November night in Stanley, North Carolina. A tallish, 24 year old, man with blonde hair, wearing a black leather jacket over a t-shirt and black jeans, leaned against his car, a modernized marina blue 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle with white Super Sport stripes down the middle of the hood and trunk, and matching blue and white for the interior, that was parked outside an old tire and lube place the group had been meeting at for at least eight years.

The man looked as though he had a lot on his mind and wanted to be left alone.

"Yo, David…I mean, boss," a black haired man said as he nervously approached the car.

"What's up Jason?" David asked as he pushed himself off his car.

"That guy over there said something about racing the fastest guy in the area, I think he's the one who's been running all over the county and winning against some of the other team's bosses, but I'll run against him if you want me too," Jason responded not noticing David's uncomfortable appearances.

"No that's alright, I guess one last race before I go won't kill me, shouldn't take long either," the blonde man replied as he removed his heavy leather coat and laid it on his passenger seat before getting behind the wheel of the large vehicle.

As he approached the starting line of a 14 plus mile sprint that was laid out across a lot of public road, David started thinking back across the last two weeks. His job was transferring him to Japan for two years, to him it was for no apparent reason other than his boss thought he was out for his job but, coming from his superiors it was for training and the like. It was lucky for David that he had to learn Japanese to deal with some of the investors. He was leaving the place he had called home for 24 years in two weeks and he was dreading having to leave his car for any amount of time.

Thinking now about his car, his Chevelle, the car he had built over two years and had driven for five years now and raced for four of those years. David had built the car practically from the ground up, the motor and all, in his spare time. The factory bucket style seats remained in the car, and they were covered in white vinyl with blue inserts in the centers that matched the door and dash panels all of the blues were as close to the marina blue exterior as possible, blue factory style lap belts also remained in place instead of a safer bucket and four point racing harness set up. He painted it in a loaned paint booth and all the work that had ever been done to the motor was done by him in a friend's garage. David had built this car for showing off and going fast, not just going fast like some others did with muscle cars, even took it to cruise in nights in and around town.

He built the new motor off a crate aluminum LS6 motor adding the supercharger and boring the cylinders out .030 of an inch over original along with re-tightening the compression ratio in the motor to 13:1 using flat top pistons. He put the heads together with a five angle valve job, along with porting both the exhaust and intake ports and NASCAR spec valve train with hydraulic roller lifters and roller rocker arms coupled with a cam aggressive enough to move it all. The new motor came after the original 396 spun a rod bearing and locked up with just over ninety thousand miles on the motor.

This combination of parts and brains gave his car more power than most could ever dream of without a blower coming through the hood, coming out at close to 800 hp and 700 ft-lbs of torque or better at the rear wheels. The suspension and frame were reinforced to compensate so that the chassis didn't twist and send the machine off the road but remained as close to factory as possible. No shop had ever touched his car, and unless it was absolutely necessary they never would. He may have worked as a business manager for a company that had branches all over the world, but in his mind cars were the only thing that brought peace to his restless mind, and heavy foot.

At the start line Jason stood in front of the Chevelle and a 2002 Honda S2000. He raised his arms and yelled over the two growling motors, the Chevelle sounding like a NASCAR motor at a full gallop, the Honda's barely audible over the exhaust note of the machine next to it: "Ready…. Go!" as his arms dropped and he ducked between the two cars to keep from falling on his butt as the Chevelle's front wheels left the ground in a short hop brought on by the torque the supercharged 454 was putting out, both motors screaming as the two cars left the start line behind them.

"He started slow," Jason muttered as he watched the Chevelle fall behind the smaller Honda.

David had deliberately allowed the Honda ahead, allowing himself to observe his opponent's style till the first corner where he would leave him sucking on dust and exhaust fumes.

As the roads natural curves got sharper David adjusted his foot work and steering while still simply cruising along behind the Honda and its driver, who seemed to be having a hard time keeping the car on a proper line.

"The major turns are blocked by some of the folks that run out here, just make sure you don't hit any of them," David had overheard Jason telling the Honda's driver as he pulled up next to him. This simple statement of fact made David laugh a little seeing how much the Honda seemed to be struggling to keep the barely trying Chevelle behind it.

At the first corner a car blocked one of the two paths the road took, and the Honda swung out too wide nearly hitting it while David simply drove through the ninety degree right hand corner by swinging the tail only as much as necessary and leaving the Honda behind him, he began putting on a bit of a show letting the heavy car carry itself around the corners using only the pedals to keep it from flying out of control and into a tree or worse.

As they approached David's favorite place along the course, a long sweeping right hand curve, he allowed the car to swing out across the road and with as little counter steer as possible he cleared the curve at 90 miles an hour without even breaking a sweat while feeling the g-forces trying to push him out of the back corner of the seat.

Again he started thinking more about the past four years he had been racing in the Chevelle. His mind flashed back to his first win on the very course he was running, against the leader of the Timber Wolves team.

"_The deal is anyone who can beat me takes over the team, it's a tradition in this area, you have nothing to really lose if you don't cross that line before me but I have everything to lose, so I'll be going at my best, I want the same out of you," The old leader of the Timber Wolves said as he got into his car. _

"_You have a deal," David half shouted over the drone of the motors of the other cars as they moved off the start line._

"_David, the course you're going to run tonight is different from the normal, this track is a tradition among the leaders of the teams in this area, only the leaders race on it so they know it well," Jason said through the window of the Chevelle as it waited on the start line._

_David's knowledge of the course he'd lived off of for twenty years and his car had allowed him to jump out in front and stay there till the last turn where his opponent tried to pass him but the extra power the modified V8 had over the smaller six cylinder allowed him to stay in front and win the battle and his leadership role in the Timber Wolves._

That race was nearly three years ago and David realized that if his mind had wondered that far he was going to easily win this race as well. He slammed the brakes and allowed the car to once again slide around the curves of the road as he floored the accelerator to bring the rear end back behind him. He came up on the corner that every one hated but him. A sharp left hander that required everyone to nearly stop to clear it due to its extreme angle.

He pulled the steering wheel hard right before slamming the brake pedal to the floor and pulling the wheel back to the left, allowing the back of the car to swing out sideways and then letting the back go just a little further making it look like the nose of the car was chasing the back of it before countering with the front wheels and his foot work to make sure it stayed in the proper direction, lining the car up perfectly with the exit as he floored the accelerator to pull the heavy car out of the slide and continue on its marry way, the 454 under its hood roaring like a pissed off lion as it pushed the car towards the next corner.

The people who were fascinated to see what other racers did at that corner were standing in awe as the Honda drove past and using the e-brake to slide through the corner.

By the time the Honda saw the tail lights of the Chevelle again, the driver was watching as David slid through the next corner not knowing it was the last time he would see those rectangular tail lamps till he crossed the finish line and looked in his rear view mirrors after passing it at the line.

In the four years David had been a street racer he had raced quit a few times as the leader of the Timber Wolves but his favorite had to have been before he ever even considered going after the Timber Wolves leader, against a punk kid who had been shooting his mouth off most of the night about his times and his car.

"_I'll beat anyone who wants a go at me," the kid said standing next to a race ready appearing 1994 Nissan 240SX._

"_Alright, I'll have a go, see what you can do against me and mine," David said pointing to the marina blue Chevelle behind him that back in those days was still running a 396 block that had been bored out to a 400._

_The kid leaned against his car remaining silent for a moment before accepting David's proposal with a simple nod of his head. As they lined their cars up on the official starting line, the kid was still quiet._

_When the starter dropped her arms David let the clutch out and launched the Chevelle into a wheel stand before bringing it back down and flat walking away from the 240 and its driver. It was David's easiest win ever._

David's mind came back from the race that took place three and a half years ago, he looked in his rear view mirror noticing he no longer saw the S2000, and realizing that he was very close to the finish line, he floored the pedal and flew across the line as fast as he could before turning the car one hundred and eighty degrees to watch his opponent cross it as he had always done.

He was going to miss all this and he knew it, he had made arrangements to have the Chevelle that was currently vibrating beneath his feet to be sent to Japan a month after his arrival so he could at least be settled when it got to him but he was going to miss the place he called home more than the car.

The evening ended as pretty much a farewell party for David because he would spend the next two weeks getting everything ready to leave.

David woke up the next morning staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, before remembering he'd spent the night at the house where his Chevelle would be stored for the next month. He stood in the houses four car garage staring at his marina blue machine resting peacefully between his friend Jason's scorch red 1970 Plymouth GTX and a car under a cover, its bullet shaped fenders and the louvers over the back glass pressing their forms into the tight fitting cover. This was David's secret project, only Jason and the Timber Wolves knew anything about it so far.

Again David had this feeling that the Chevelle wouldn't make it to Japan when it was supposed to, but he brushed this off as he climbed into a four door sedan he would drive until he left for Japan.

The company he worked for actually had agreed to pay the shipping fees for his car and belongings as well as the two years of Japanese taxes on the car to get him to go to Japan for them, but he was still concerned about where he would keep the car once he had it in Japan.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two weeks after his last race as leader of the Timber Wolves team in America, David walked through Narita airport in Japan. He caught sight of a man slightly older then himself holding a sign with his name neatly printed on it.

"So you're the driver sent to get me where I'm going till my car gets here next month?" David asked in near perfect Japanese that earned him a surprised smile from the driver as the he took his luggage from him.

"I am, however your company has asked me to bring you to their offices first so they can welcome you to Japan, then I am to take you to the house your new boss got for you sir," the driver responded as he lead David to a black Mercedes sitting in front of the building.

"What house? I was made aware of a condo in a company owned building," David asked hoping the driver would know something more.

"I'm just a driver that has the address for both places and I was told it was a house, not meaning to be rude sir, but I don't know anything more then I was told," The driver chuckled when he saw David's profound look of disbelief.

About an hour later they arrived at the Japan headquarters of the company David worked for, a rather tall building in the middle of Tokyo.

"This is the first stop sir, I'll be in the parking lot, have the person at the front desk call this number when you're ready to leave, and I'll come get you at the front door," The driver said with a smile after he opened the door for David and handing him a card.

"Thanks for the lift and I'm really not sure what etiquette calls for here, I've never been picked up in a limo before, but can I ask that you stop calling me sir?" David said scratching the back of his head before giving a slight bow.

"Don't worry about that right now, I can teach you on the way to the house, it's over in the Gunma prefecture, and sure, if you're uncomfortable with anything just tell me," the driver said ushering the younger man to the door.

As David walked into the building he noticed the very old world traditional style the lobby was designed with. He also noticed the very large hand carved wooden desk in the middle of the room.

"Hello, my name is David Crandon, I think I'm expected," the tall blonde said as he approached the desk.

"Yes sir, you are asked to the 35th floor, the elevators are over there," the receptionist responded as she pointed towards the elevator doors just down the hall behind the desk.

"Thank you and could you call this number next time you see me, it's for the driver the company sent for me," David said handing her the card as the receptionist nodded.

Five minutes after getting to the building he found himself feeling absolute calm instead of the nervousness he would have normally felt in this kind of situation.

What most people didn't know about David was that he hated dressing up in the suits he had to wear every day, and that he really didn't care about working for a big company making tons of money, he just wanted to have a good paying job and he had ended up being the manager of a branch in a multinational company making more money then he really wanted.

It's not like he hated his job, far from it in fact, he loved the work, he just didn't like the dress code that went with it, so throughout the day he would take off his tie and suit jacket so he would be more comfortable.

"Ahh, Mr. Crandon we've been expecting you," the secretary sitting behind the desk said as he stepped off the elevator.

"Just point me in the direction I need to go, I'm feeling a little jet lag from the flight," David said as politely as possible as the young lady behind the desk stood to guide him to the office of the man who would be his boss for the next two years.

"Mr. Crandon, Welcome to Japan," a gray haired man dressed in an expensive suit said in a kind voice as he came around the desk.

"Yokama-san, it's good to be here," David said shaking the man's hand. "I have a question before we get started sir," he said taking a seat in front of the desk.

"Anything for my new branch manager," Yokama said as he too resumed his seat behind the desk.

"Why is the driver you sent for me under the impression that I was to be taken to a house and not the condos that I had agreed to stay in?" David asked trying to sound as polite as possible, even though he couldn't mask the skepticism in his voice.

"Well when your manager in America told me you had a car and tools you wished to be shipped here I figured you would want somewhere to store them, so I convinced the company to buy a house with attached three car garage for your car and tools," the older man responded with a chuckle as David's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock.

David remained silent trying to process whether or not his new boss was kidding or completely serious about the three car garage, he cared nothing about the rest of the house just the garage.

"So what kind of car is it, American I'm sure, but is it something you can't find here without some effort," Yokama asked breaking the uncomfortable silence as he headed for the door to walk David out after the rest of the introductions to the major staff were made.

"It's actually something you can't even find in America without a ton of effort Yokama-san," David paused to register his thoughts as he finally started to come out of the shock. "It's a 1970 Chevelle with quite a few modifications," he finished as they stepped into the elevator.

They spent the entire ride down to the lobby talking about different cars, acting as they had known each other for years instead of just having met each other not even twenty minutes before. As David got into the Mercedes, Yokama stopped the driver from closing the door.

"David, I hope you like the house, it's built to suit western style furnishings so it should be comfortable for you," Yokama said as he closed the door.

Twenty minutes later, of talking about etiquette of Japan with the driver as well as a few roads that the Chevelle might handle once it got to Japan, they arrived at the house, a very beautiful brick two story place with the as promised three car garage attached to it.

The driver handed him the key to the door as he retrieved his luggage from the Mercedes' trunk. David walked to the door and opened it to reveal a hallway very nearly paint matched to the marina blue Chevelle that sat waiting in America.

'_This is fantastic,' _David thought as he explored the house forgetting all about the driver waiting to be dismissed at his front door.

Looking around the first floor David saw a full kitchen with stainless appliances, and a dining room with a rather large oak table and chairs, behind the table was a wall that hid both the entrance to the garage and the staircase that lead to the second floor. Across the hall he found a leather sectional, a 40 inch flat screen TV and a few other small things. Down the hall an entrance to the first bedroom, a simple room with a double bed and an attached bath that had a shared entrance with the main living room.

"Hey, your keys to the house should not be left in the door," The driver said as he handed the keys to the younger man after taking them from the door.

"Thank you for the etiquette lesson and the ride…home," David said bowing to the older man who seemed happy to do whatever someone asked of him.

"There is a car in the garage for you, so you can figure your own way around for when your car gets here," The driver said yet again sending David into a shocked state. "Don't say a word kid, it belongs to me so don't go tearing her up either, and stop bowing so much, that's mostly for formal apologies and greetings," he said as he left the house without giving David a chance to respond.

Over the next few days David moved the furniture around to his liking, and started setting up his three rather large toolboxes up where he wanted them and getting the tools back in their proper places. Once everything was to his liking David decided it was time to at least look at the car the driver had left for him to use during his days off.

As he walked into the garage he was surprised at himself for being able to resist looking under the car cover while he had been setting the tools up the way he wanted them, especially seeing he had been in the country for three days already. When he reached down and grabbed the cover David got a funny feeling that this car wasn't the way it had come from the factory anymore.

He pulled the cover off in one movement to reveal an all black 2003 Nissan 350Z with a body kit and a spoiler. All of the body pieces matched, not something he was used to seeing, it all looked like it was meant to keep the car pinned to the ground, not just looking flashy like the tuner freaks back in America.

He went around the car several times as he took in everything about it before he thought to get in it. As he slipped into the seat he saw a note stuck to the steering wheel.

_Fill it up with high octane when it needs it, and make sure you head to Mt. Akagi, there's a team there that might interest you._

_Your driver_

David stared at the note for nearly ten minutes before remembering what he was sitting in the car for. He started the Z and listened to its motor growl back at him as it settled back to idle.

"This may take some getting used to," David said moving his left hand to the gear lever to push it to the first gear.

He pulled out of the garage and headed out to do some exploring, finding the closest gas stations and grocery stores and a few other places before heading back to the house to find a way to Mt. Akagi. After a few minutes of looking at maps online he managed to find his way out to the pass.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"This is going to be fun going down," David said as he stared at the road twisting in front of him as he drove up at normal speeds taking in all the details of the course. His heart pounded in his chest in anticipation of running this road at full speed.

As he reached the top he spotted something he didn't expect, a van with its back hatch open and a yellow 1993 RX-7 FD3S parked right behind it up on jack stands. David got a little nervous for some reason as he pulled into the parking lot noticing that four of the five men were looking at him, the fifth continued to work on the yellow car. He climbed out of the Z33 after parking it next to the van.

"Hello there, we weren't expecting company up here tonight, my name is Fumihiro Hiroshi, call me Fumihiro, I don't think I've seen you or your car around here before," a tallish man with neat black hair and a button down shirt with khaki pants said.

"David Crandon, I come from America, a guy I work with lent me his car to come check this place out, I wasn't expecting to see anyone out here this late at night," David explained not really knowing why he had, but he felt the need to with two rather menacing looking people in the group.

"Well we're Project D and our downhill ace has already left for the night so I can't introduce him, but this is our uphill ace Keisuke Takahashi," Fumihiro said as he pointed towards the tall bleach blonde fellow wearing a black t-shirt under a cabana style shirt leaned against the FD.

After the rest of the introductions were made, David made his way over to the FD to see what the man they called Tomiguchi, apparently he was a driver for one of the vans and Keisuke's mechanic, was up to under its hood. But before he got close the blonde haired guy closed the hood and Keisuke jumped in and drove off at such a high rate of speed that David wanted to chase him and watch him go down.

"You won't catch him," A deep voice came from behind him causing the 5'9" blonde to turn on his heels.

"Wasn't going to try," David lied hoping to get to the 350Z that sat behind him before noticing that it was Ryosuke that had spoken to him.

"Then why did you grab your keys so quickly when he left?" Ryosuke said with a chuckle pointing to the keys in David's hand.

"Just wanted to give the downhill a try, and if I did catch him maybe learn a few things by watching,"

"Really, then you can watch me if that's what you're really here for," Ryosuke offered as he turned on his heels and headed for the other side of the van.

David jumped in the 350Z, after noticing the stunned looks on the other men's faces he realized this would be a once in a life time opportunity to see the tall brown haired man drive. As he readied himself he heard the familiar drone of a rotary motor coming from the other side of the van before he saw a beautifully kept white 1990 RX-7 FC3S.

"I get the feeling I'm toast if he decides push that thing," David said quietly as he lined up behind the FC.

As they started off David was glad he had gone slow coming up to notice all the details otherwise he wouldn't have been able to stay close to the FC at all. As they approached the first hair pin turn David finally allowed himself to relax at the wheel of the Z33 and just like his Chevelle back in America he let the car do the work of carrying itself around the corners.

"This guy knows more then he lets on," Ryosuke said to himself as he spotted the headlights of the black Nissan in his rear view mirror getting bigger.

About half way through the course Keisuke passed the two speeding cars as he was heading back up hill.

"What the hell, why is Aniki racing him?" he asked himself as he continued his trek up the mountain.

When he arrived back at the top of Mt. Akagi he parked the FD behind the van again and told Tomiguchi what needed to be changed before walking over to Fumihiro to figure out why Ryosuke was running down the pass.

"Fumihiro, why is Aniki racing that American guy?" he asked as he walked over to the other men.

"You mean Crandon-san? He said he wanted to learn the course so Ryosuke decided to lead him down and show him what we do," Fumihiro responded in his usual light tone.

Back at the bottom of Mt. Akagi's course Ryosuke pulled over and turned on his hazard lights as the Z33 parked behind him. He climbed out of his beloved FC to chat a while with the American blonde.

"So where did you learn how to drive that way, not many American's can drift the way you were first time out," He said as David approached him.

"Not such a hard thing to figure out when you drive a car that likes doing that kind of thing on its own, American muscle cars love to let the tail out a bit, I thank you for the lesson Ryosuke-san, you've taught me quite a bit tonight," David said as he bowed his head slightly before climbing back into the Z33 and driving off to his home leaving a rather perplexed feeling Ryosuke leaning against the back of his FC with a lit cigarette in his fingers and his usual stoic face.

As David made his way back home Ryosuke made his way back up to the summit of Akagi thinking the whole way up about what David had said. _'So he drove an American muscle car back in the states, he's only 24 maybe 25 I wonder how he could afford such a car,' _Ryosuke thought before he pulled his car back into the space next to the work van filled with parts for his brother's FD.

"So, Aniki why did you want to lead him down the mountain?" Keisuke asked as his brother got out of the white FC.

"Because I feel that if someone wants to learn, like Takumi and absorb different techniques it is only right for someone to help them, I chose to be the one to help," Ryosuke responded without turning around to face his brother. With that Keisuke shrugged and went back to his car to continue practicing the newest techniques his Aniki had asked him to learn during their last races.

Two days after meeting Project D, minus one driver and technician, David decided to check out Mt. Akina for its five hairpins and supposedly "interesting" corners and famous AE86.

David pulled the loaned Z33 into the small pull off area next to the main road at the old radio tower that his driver had told him about, and got out into the cold early December night.

"Geez its cold out here, I miss home already but this gives reason to miss the weather," the blonde laughed as he pulled his leather coat a little.

David waited until nearly two o'clock in the morning for the 86 everyone was talking about to show up, when it didn't come he climbed into the Z33 and started heading down as fast as he could. He was about to the five consecutive hairpin corners when he noticed a set of head lights in his rear view mirror getting closer really fast.

The blonde steeled himself against the wheel and pushed the car even faster before noticing the headlights were chewing on his rear bumper. Hearing the angry growl of the motor behind him over the roar of his own V6, David began to get nervous and he didn't know why.

"This must be the 86 people were talking about, the unnerving feeling that engine puts in you is exactly as my driver, the guy who gave me this car, described when he told me about it," David said to himself has he pushed the Z33 even faster.

Once they reached the five hairpins David did everything he knew to hold his place in front. The blocking techniques worked for the first hairpin and into the second before the black and white 86 passed him on the inside making the pass look so easy David wanted to cry.

"Damn this guys good," David said as he pushed even harder to keep up with Akina's famous 86.

Noticing the 86 tires drop in to the gutters David decided to mimic every move the guy made to at least keep up with him. By the time they reached the bottom of the pass David was so shaken by the experience he barely noticed when he pulled over behind the 86 which now had on its hazards.

When he finally managed to pull himself out of the car the driver of the 86, a tallish dark haired young man wearing a fleece jacket and black pants was standing at the front corner of the black Z33 David was driving.

"That's the first time someone has kept up with me in a very long time," The younger man said as David leaned against the door.

"It wasn't easy, I'm barely standing here," David laughed while once again pulling his coat tighter against the cold.

"My name is Fujiwara Takumi, I'm wondering what you've done to that car, most people can't even think of keeping up with me in Akina," Takumi said without a trace of arrogance in his voice.

"I wouldn't know, it's not mine, it's on loan till my car gets here from America," David chuckled noticing the shock on the younger man's face. "You wouldn't happen to be the 86 of Project D would you?"

"Yeah, how did you know about that?" Takumi asked as he looked the 350Z over.

"Ran in to your teammates over on Akagi two nights ago," the blonde replied as he felt his legs stop shaking. He walked a few steps to get his legs back completely.

They talked for a few minutes before Takumi told the older man about the next meeting of Project D, and where it was. David walked into his house at quarter passed three in the morning and fell asleep on the couch.

A few hours later he woke up to someone knocking on his front door, he opened it to the shock of the week.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Mr. Yokama, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked letting his boss into the house.

"Just dropping by to remind you that you start tomorrow, and to see what you've done with the place," the gray haired man said as he looked around.

"I haven't done much just move things around a little," David replied as he walked just ahead of his boss into the living room.

"I heard a little rumor that you were a street racer back in North Carolina, is this true?" the gray haired man in full business suit asked as he sat in one of the chairs.

"Yes sir, I lead a team that earned the title of fastest in the county, I must say that even though I like my job, cars are the only way I can keep my restless side and heavy foot under control," David laughed nervously hoping this wouldn't affect his job at all.

"Well it's a good thing I'm here then," Yokama said confusing the life out of David.

"I don't understand sir, what are you talking about?" David asked still trying to wrap his head around not being fired.

"Well I understand you have a car and virtually an entire tuning shop in that garage out there, all you need is a lift and a few places to find American car parts am I right?" the older man said standing and heading towards the garage door in the dining area.

David sat for a moment before realizing his boss had left the room before following him into the three car garage. Once there he noticed his boss looking over the three large tool boxes set in the far corner of the space, and the black Z33 that sat quietly in the center space of the garage.

"You know a better way to lay this out would to be using your tool boxes as a wall for the third bay and have it be strictly a work area, that way you could put a car in there and have some space to move about," Yokama said as he walked back towards the car. "Do you know this car as well as the one in America?"

"Not yet, but we are getting along nicely," David joked before realizing he was standing next to the black vehicle.

"Show me," the older man said as he climbed into the passenger seat.

David climbed into the driver seat and pulled out into the driveway noticing a black Mercedes Benz sitting in front of the door closest to the house.

"That's a CLK 500 right?" He asked before thinking.

"The AMG version, you have a good eye," Yokama replied with a smile.

They drove to the top of Akagi's pass before David turned around and let loose, drifting perfectly through all but the first hairpin where he got a little overzealous with the accelerator and nearly hit the guardrail at the corner's exit.

"That was fun, I haven't had a rush like that in years," Yokama said slapping David on the back at the bottom of the pass, "Listen, if you keep me in on how you do in the races and give me one ride in that Chevelle you told me about, I'll get you the lift for the garage and the names of a few parts places where you can find parts for your car," he said shocking David to the point the young man nearly fell off the car.

"Sir you don't have to do that, I mean I can work on the floor, it's how I built the Chevelle anyway," David said waving his hands in front of him.

"David, you can't stop me, and my wife and I would like to have you over for dinner tomorrow night," Yokama said shocking the young man again.

"I would be honored sir, and I will be moving my tools tonight once we get back, I've never had a three car garage, I really didn't know what to do with that much space," the blonde replied as he watched the older man climb back into his passenger seat.

When they got back to the house Yokama left doing a little showing off of his own by burning the back tires of his Mercedes before gunning out on to the main road sideways and flying off down the road.

Christmas came and went quickly and David had officially made his debut in the Japanese downhill drift scene, in the Nissan 350Z loaned to him by the man hired to be his driver, by winning his first three races in a snow free Akagi. He had the driver explain everything that had been done to the car and how to tune the engine and suspension the way he wanted to with limited help.

David still missed his Chevelle but he was having a great time learning what he would be up against from the driver's seat of one of the cars he would face once his car did arrive. His driver had challenged him to a race; the date was set for two days after the car was scheduled to get here so he could tune it for the high octane of Japan.

The month had flown by and David and Mr. Yokama were standing side by side on the pier waiting for the Chevelle and its chosen accompaniment to disembark from the vessel they were sent on.

"So who do you think brought it," the gray haired man asked as they waited.

"The girl I left in the states I hope but I don't really know," The taller blonde responded as he leaned against his bosses Mercedes. "I hope you trust someone else with your car Mr. Yokama, you were promised a ride in my Chevelle," he said making his boss think twice about bringing his car.

"I'm sure if it's one of your teammates they'll be fine," Yokama responded with a chuckle.

Someone was approaching with a clipboard so the gentlemen stopped talking about the car to see what the man dressed in a pair of coveralls with heavy work boots and a hard hat wanted from them.

"Are you David Crandon?" the man asked looking at the blonde man in a leather coat.

"I am, is my car off the ship?" David responded looking hopeful.

"Yes sir and so is your escort for it, all I need you to do is sign this and you can be on your way with him and the car," The worker said handing him the clipboard.

After all the paper work was signed the worker lead them to where they put the car and its escort. When they arrived David completely ignored his boss and the dark haired man that was standing next to the marina blue Chevelle.

He went over the entire car making sure everything was as he left it David finally slowed down enough to realize who had escorted his car to Japan.

"Jason, where is she?" David asked in English, once again ignoring his boss.

"She couldn't come with me boss, she gave me this before I got on though," The black haired, tall man said somberly as he handed his friend a letter. "David, I don't think she's coming yet," he said as he pulled a fleece jacket out of the Chevelle's passenger seat.

"I'll read this later, but for now Jason, this is my boss Mr. Yokama," David said pointing to the oldest man of the three. "I hope you can shift left handed because you're driving his car back to the house tonight," he said with a chuckle at the man's face.

As the men drove back Mr. Yokama allowed Jason to sit up front so he could get his left hand used to shifting quicker. It was a short distance back to the other car but it took a long time for the young black haired man to get them out of the area using the shift on command idea. Once they arrived though he had the general hang of it, Jason was glad he wouldn't have time to race though.

As they drove back to the house David and Mr. Yokama discussed the modifications made to the Chevelle over the years not even paying attention to the Mercedes CLK 500 that was behind them. When they got to the house David parked the marina blue machine on the brand new lift in the third bay of the garage before getting out and going in.

"Jason, your bedroom for the next four days is at the end of the hall on the left," David said not noticing the awe struck look on his young friends face, "By the way, how is the other car?"

"Your treasure is just fine boss, you think more of it than Emily some times," the black haired man laughed.

Over the next two days Jason helped David set the Chevelle to use the high octane gas of Japan, an easy task for the two men who had gone through automotive engineering together, and getting in a few practice runs on Akagi's downhill. After the second night David left the black Nissan 350Z out in front of the garage with the keys hidden safely away within it, so its owner could pick it up before the race without having to wait for him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As promised the marina blue Chevelle made its way to the top of Mt. Akagi for its first official race in Japan two days after it arrived. David was driving up at what most would think of as suicidal speeds, especially with snow piled up on either side of the road, with his dark haired friend Jason in the passenger seat trying not to scream his head off.

When they arrived at the top of the pass they saw the black Z33 and David's driver waiting for the car.

"This could be fun," Jason muttered just before hearing and feeling the 454 under the Chevelle's hood let out a tremendous roar as David pushed it to half throttle in neutral.

"It certainly should be," David said while lining the car up with the Z33.

When they got out, the three men discussed the rules, David noticed that all of Project D was standing on the sidelines, Takumi was talking to a few people he seemed to know while standing near his 86 and a lime green two tone S13.

"So this will be a side by side start, downhill race, winner is the one who gets to the bottom first," Jason said in English that David translated for him.

The two drivers went to the driver's doors of their cars and shook hands before they climbed in. Jason stood in front of the cars as they brought the motors to life.

As he brought his arm down the two cars flew past him, he fell to the ground when he felt David's mirror graze his arm.

"Are you alright?" someone asked in English as he pulled himself up.

"Yeah, he's done that before, but not in a long time," Jason said turning towards the voice to find a brown haired man standing behind him, "I'm Jason Benson, David's friend and team mate from American," he said extending a hand towards the slightly taller man.

"Ryosuke Takahashi, we've been to some of your friend's races since this is the Akagi Red Suns home course, but I've never seen him get that close to the starter before," Ryosuke said as he shook the man's hand.

"That's probably because he knows I won't move when he does it, the roads we race on are a bit narrower then these so as a starting person the reflex to run from the cars has to disappear otherwise we get run over by the car that were not running from," Jason laughed as they walked to the side lines.

On the course David was comfortably leading the race once again able to allow the sheer power of his car to slide the back out, though now he had more confidence in himself and was allowing the car to slide out at every possible attack point to block the road completely with its sheer size.

"This will be easy once we get passed the last hair pin," David said as he slid the car around the hair pin corner completely sideways before bringing the tail of the huge machine behind him and tearing off down the faster section of the course.

Back up at the top Jason and most of Project D were deep in conversation about David's racing past, or at least what of it Jason knew.

"So he was going after the leadership of the team you two guys are a part of when you started racing with him?" Ryosuke asked, basically translating for the rest of the team.

"Yeah, but when he left the team took a vote, since David isn't there to take 'leader challenges' anymore the Timber Wolves have decided to take a break until he comes home in two years, I just have to find a way to tell David that without him killing me since we promised not to stop racing while he was gone," Jason said loosing the smile he was wearing.

David was just crossing the finish line when the Z33 he had driven for his first month in Japan was clearing the last corner, and as was his tradition David spun the marina blue and white machine one hundred and eighty degrees and watched his opponent cross the finish line.

"That was a blast, watching that huge machine fly around those corners scared me a bit," the man hired as David's driver said as he climbed out of the Z33.

"Let's head back up, by the way these people are acting I'm guessing the folks at the summit already know who's won, good race," David said politely as he climbed back into the Chevelle.

The pair drove back to the summit to be greeted by the cheering crowd as the marina blue machine lead the way into the parking area once again letting out a tremendous roar.

Ryosuke walked over to the two men congratulating David and the driver of the Z33 before asking David to come with him. The two men found a quiet corner of the parking area and stood a few feet apart.

"I only asked you over here so my brother and downhill ace won't hear what I'm going to say," the brown haired man said before lighting the cigarette in his hand. "I think you're a good opponent for my team, downhill, and up from what I hear," he said turning to face the slightly shorter man.

"I'm not racing you yet, when I'm ready to I'll make the challenge to all of you," David said turning to walk away.

"Good, because I don't think you could win yet, but that is the whole point, I want them to know that no matter what you do there are some opponents too strong to be beaten," Ryosuke said with such calm it sent a chill up David's spine.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

David woke up the day after his race with his driver and before going in to the office he saw Jason off at the airport.

When they got back to the house after the race Jason broke down and had told the taller blonde that his team had decided to hold off racing until he returned to the states. Jason did agree to tell the team to at least go to the friendly gatherings set up by some of the other teams once in a while and to practice when they could.

When David arrived at the office his boss was waiting for him at the reception desk in the lobby.

"Mr. Yokama, how are you doing this morning?" David asked as he walked over to the slightly shorter man.

"Just fine, did you get your friend to the airport on time this morning?" the gray haired man asked as he straightened his tie a little.

"We got there, and by the way I won my race last night but I have to ask why your helping me so much with this, I know that racing in the mountain passes is big around here but why help an American instead of a Japanese driver?" the blonde asked once they were in the elevator.

Mr. Yokama reached down and flipped a switch on the panel and the elevator stopped with a slight lurch.

"Well I used to know a man like you, and back then I couldn't help him even when he begged me to because I didn't have money or knowledge of what to do, and one night he went out with a broken suspension part on his car and it spun him off the road at Akagi, he was pretty beat up and for some reason he blamed me for the crash, I haven't been able to speak to him since," Yokama said before taking a breath, "But I know that I don't want to see anyone else get hurt especially my newest manager," he finished before flipping the switch and allowing them to continue on their way.

"How could he blame you for something like that?" David asked looking towards the elevator doors.

"I don't know, but that's enough about me. What was in that letter of yours?" Yokama responded momentarily allowing the hurt show in his voice.

"Don't know, I've been afraid to read it," David responded with a slight chuckle hoping to lighten the mood even a small amount.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about David," the gray haired man responded in a fatherly tone.

"Sir, no disrespect but do you know the real reason I was sent here to Japan"

"Yes, for training and to get to know the investors in person," Yokama said with a confused look upon his aging features.

"That's what the girl back home was told by her father, my boss, just before I got the notification I was being sent," David said the anger slightly obvious in his tone.

They stopped talking as the elevator reached its destination and they both spent the rest of the day doing their jobs until quitting time.

When David arrived home he threw his suit jacket on the back of the chair and flopped down on the sectional in the living room staring at a blank TV screen. He never turned the TV on unless he was going to watch one of the movies he'd brought with him or for the traffic and weather reports in the mornings.

"Alright David, time to stop being afraid of what she said and read the thing," the blonde haired man said getting the still sealed letter off the table. He opened it slowly still slightly afraid of what it would say.

_David, things have been going well here but my father still thinks of you as the man trying to steal his little girl away from him, even with mother telling him otherwise. I don't think he will let me come to Japan to be with you, and he's already tried to set up dates with other so called "better" men then you. I finally accepted one to get him off my back about it, and by the time this gets to you the date will most definitely be over with. I want you to call me when you read this so I know you got it._

_I still love only you David._

_Emily_

David jumped off the couch and grabbed his cell phone before just dropping it on the couch and getting the telephone off its stand and dialed the number he now only prayed her family still had.

"Hello?" a kind and older sounding voice came from the other end.

"Hello is Emily there, this is David Crandon," David said trying not to sound frantic.

"David, if my husband were to ever find out about you calling he'd change our number, but I'll get her for you," the voice responded with a slightly sarcastic tone.

A few long moments later the blonde heard the phone get picked up by someone.

"Hello Sarah, my dad is here so I'm going to take the phone to my room," a soft and slightly defiant voice said from the other end.

"Emily, I'm sorry I didn't call sooner, I was afraid of what the letter might have said, and I just read it tonight," David said only getting sounds of understanding in return.

He heard the sound of a door closing and what sounded like a chair being moved.

"David, you can't call the house like that, my father hates you remember?" Emily said with a slight laugh.

"I know but I couldn't get my cell to work fast enough and I know the house number like the back of my hand," He laughed back.

"The date my dad set up was horrible, all I could talk about was you and your car, the only thing that narcissist wanted to talk about was himself and his money, I miss you David,"

"I miss you too Emily, and Jason nearly got his neck rung for being the one to deliver my car instead of you until he handed me that letter, which by the way, why a letter not an email or phone call?" David asked as he sat himself back on the couch.

"It was the only way I could contact you without dad noticing, I told him I was going shopping so I'd have time to see Jason off at the docks, I wrote the last bit about the date on the hood of your car before they loaded it," Emily responded seriously.

"Email would have been faster, and I know your dad isn't monitoring those, otherwise I'd be dead and buried twenty feet down by now," David laughed.

They spent the rest of the time they had talking about David's racing and Emily's real shopping trips. When they finally said goodnight to each other it was nearly ten o'clock at night in Japan and someone was knocking on David's front door.

"Who is it?" David called out as he approached the door.

"Ryosuke Takahashi," a voice called from behind the door.

David's eyes went wide for a moment before he reacted and ran to the door to open it forgetting entirely that he was still wearing most of his suit, tie included. When he opened the door the bleach blonde known as Keisuke was standing behind his brother.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" David asked as he motioned for them to come in.

"Just coming by to find out if you're accepting the challenge or not," Keisuke said as he threw himself on the sectional.

"What challenge? I wasn't challenged again yet," David said with shock evident in his voice.

"Really, there are rumors Takeshi Nakazato of the Myogi Night Kids challenged you to an uphill run at Myogi," Ryosuke replied as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"Have you spoken to Nakazato about this yet, it may just be rumors," the blonde said sitting on the table in the middle of the room.

"I have, and he hesitated before answering, that tells me he didn't issue the challenge but would gladly take up on it."

"Well I guess he's thinking along the same lines as I am, let rumors come true and race him, it does sound like fun racing against a R32," David said with a chuckle.

After showing the Takahashi brothers out, David spent the rest of his night getting the Chevelle's suspension ready for the literal uphill battle with Takeshi Nakazato in Myogi's mountain pass.

The next day David once again met up with his boss in the lobby of their workplace and they rode the elevator together as somewhat of a tradition.

"I got a challenge last night, from the Myogi Night Kids," the blonde said as the doors closed.

"From which member, the leader or the right hand, gunning for leader man," Yokama asked leaning against the elevator's back wall.

"Apparently neither one at first, this one started as rumor only then turned into the uphill battle at Mt. Myogi against Nakazato himself, that it is now," David replied with a laugh. "I tuned the motor and rebuilt the suspension last night, now I just need to find some practice time before the race," he finished with a more serious tone.

"Consider yourself off tomorrow and the next day then, I need you here today for a meeting," Yokama said noticing that David was finally able to hide his shock.

They spoke of the details of the course and a few places to attack, including the last short downhill corner at the top of the course being one of the best places to get passed if he was still behind at that point in the course.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Saturday came around and David was at Mt. Myogi nearly an hour before the scheduled meet up time, but the road sides were filling in very quickly. He had spotted a two of Project D's vans on his way down from a practice run up the pass.

When he got back to the bottom he saw all of Project D there short Tomiguchi and Matsumoto, the man brought on as Takumi's mechanic. He parked the Chevelle on in a spot next to the yellow FD belonging to Keisuke.

"This isn't your first official uphill battle, but it's understandable if you're nervous," Ryosuke said as David climbed out of the marina blue machine.

"I am a little nervous, but with over 800 horsepower under my hood, I should have no trouble staying in front once I get there," David replied with a slight shake in his voice.

"Wondering just how the start will go won't do you much good, that car of yours should be fine as long as the driver can keep his head," Keisuke said with a laugh.

"Guys, who are those three people Takumi is talking to?" David asked pointing towards the white and black 86 and the green S13.

"That S13 belongs to the leader of what used to be the Akina Speed Stars, the white 180SX belongs to another Speed Star," Keisuke said pointing at the cars. "I don't know the names of the guys that own them though."

David shrugged before turning and walked over towards the four men standing near the three cars. He started to notice the looks of the three mystery men. One of them seemed to enjoy talking quite a bit, the other two seemed a little more interested in just watching what was going on around them.

"Hey Takumi, who is this guy," asked the semi short haired chubby looking fellow as he watched the taller blonde walking up to them.

"His name is David Crandon, he came from America," Takumi said as David stopped at his side.

"Koichiro Iketani, I lead the Akina Speed stars, we're kind of a rising team," said the tallest man as he ran his hand through the hair that came down to his eyebrows. David nodded slightly as if to say whose next.

"Itsuki Takeuchi, the second fastest on Akina, well someday," the shortest of the group said with a slight wave.

"Only in his dreams the way he drives, I'm Kenji, and he's got a big mouth," said the man whom was David's height and hair slightly longer then his.

"Nice to meet all of you, and if Itsuki works for it he may just get to that second fastest spot," David said with a chuckle when he saw the shorter man nodding in agreement.

"We saw you go up against that guy with the Z33, you knocked the starter over when you went passed him," Iketani said continuing to watch the crowd.

"Yeah he was a friend of mine from America, I did that to him quite a bit back home," David laughed as he watched the men's faces go from dead calm to utter shock in a split second.

They spent a few minutes talking about things until David spotted the black R32 he would be racing that night followed by a red Honda Civic EG6. The two cars pulled passed them slowly and made its way towards the Chevelle.

"Got to run fellas," David said with a half wave before bolting back over to his car.

When he got back to his Chevelle the black R32 had stopped and the driver was getting out. David watched as a man his height with short black hair and a mean look on his face got out of the Nissan's driver's seat.

"Where is the driver of this machine," the man called not yet realizing David was next to him,

"No need to yell, I'm right here, my name is David," David said scratching his ear a little.

"Nakazato Takeshi, I'll be your opponent this evening," the man said as he turned back to his car and climbed in.

David took that as a sign to start and climbed into the driver's seat of the Chevelle and started the motor of the car. As the 454 settled back to idle with a low growl David heard the R32's engine come to life with a similar drone at idle.

The two cars drove out of the lot and lined up side by side and waited for their starter. They both watched as Keisuke stepped between the cars and started the count.

"Five, four, three, two, one… GO!" Keisuke shouted.

Both cars tore off down the stretch to the first corner. David easily pulled out in front and opened the gap slightly before sliding into the first left handed corner holding the R32 behind him.

As the two made their way up the course and the gap kept growing from the massive power difference between the cars David realized this would probably be the easiest race he'd ever have in Japan.

The two cars barreled through the course as Nakazato continued to fall behind his temper was going wild and he was pounding his black R32 to its limit trying to at least stop the gap from growing.

"Damn, this guy is probably barely trying, I have one of the fastest cars on the street and he's walking away from me like its nothing," he said as he flew through the corner seeing only the taillights of the Chevelle in front of him.

The crowd at the finish line heard the loud roar of the engine under the Chevelle's hood as it swung around the corner at the highest point of Myogi, a few started to cheer as it blew past the finish line and swung around one hundred and eighty degrees to face the finish line before Takeshi and his R32 could make the last corner.

"I think I'll stay away from American cars on the pass from now on," Nakazato said as he slowly made his way towards the Chevelle and its driver.

"Well the uphill against something with this much power it is nearly impossible to win," David responded as he leaned against the car. "Which is why from now on, I'm a downhiller only, and looking for a team mate for the up," He shouted to the crowd surrounding them.

Ryosuke heard the announcement as he climbed out of his FC, as did Keisuke and Takumi. The entire Project D team seemed to slow their pace towards the two men to see what would happen next.

"If you can't find yourself a teammate you could join us," Keisuke said in a half joking tone.

The rest of the night Ryosuke and the rest of Project D helped their blonde friend find a team mate by driving behind the handful of people who asked.

"We'll meet you at the bottom, this is the last contestant," Ryosuke said as he climbed into the FC.

"Ryosuke hold up a second," David shouted before walking over to the older man's car. "Why are you helping me pick my team mate?"

"For two reasons, with a strong team mate you can learn and they can learn, and two make for even ground when you challenge us," Ryosuke said as he rolled the window up and drove off behind the potential partner for David.

David and Project D met at the bottom of Mt. Myogi to discuss the drivers they had just spent the last two hours driving with. The most impressive went down with Keisuke, a brown haired girl with a blue twin turbo FD.

"What was her name Keisuke?" Fumihiro asked while David parked the Chevelle.

"Akari, she is fast, and she asked what she could do better when we got to the bottom, not to mention she drives an FD," Keisuke said kind of smugly.

"Keisuke, I hope you offered some kind of advice for her," David said trying not to laugh at bleach blonde's face.

"I'm sure if she followed you David she would pick up a few American habits, so I told her not to," Keisuke said laughing.

"We better get moving, the final three are going to be waiting at Akagi," Ryosuke said climbing into his FC.

The driver they spoke of was currently driving her FD to the base of Mt. Akagi behind two others that Project D and the man who was supposedly going to be the other half of a two person team. As they arrived in Akagi she noticed the time was nearly two in the morning.

"I hope they get back here soon, I've got work to get to in three hours," she heard one of the men say as she parked her car.

"They'll be here soon I can here two rotary motors," the other man spoke as the sound of two rotary motors and the motor of the Chevelle came closer.

Once the three cars were parked the well known Rotary brothers stepped out of the FD and FC, as the blonde American stepped out of the Chevelle.

"So these are the three best huh," David said as he looked over the three cars, "Akari, I understand you impressed Keisuke, that's not an easy feat."

David continued to walk around the other two cars, taking in as much as he could without opening the hoods, or doors.

"Come on man, we have crap to do, now isn't the time to be checking out the cars," one of the men said impatiently as David rounded his car.

"If I don't know the car I'm racing in, I lose, if I don't know my partner's I can't help them win," David said calmly as he continued to look the car over.

David moved to the blue FD and walked around it observing both the car and the girl who drove it, who appeared completely calm about the situation.

"You're name is Akari, right?" the taller blonde asked as he stood in front of her.

"Yes, what is it you want to know?" the girl responded as she walked to her driver's door.

"You don't seem as bothered as those two about me looking over your car, I want you to meet me here next week, I think I've found my partner, for now I just need your number so I can get you if something comes up between now and then," David said ignoring the two enraged looks he was getting from the other two drivers.

After the other two drivers and Akari left "the American" as David was quickly becoming known, and the rotary brothers stood watching the sun come up.

"Guys I have a huge question to ask," David said as he leaned against the Chevelle.

"You can ask us anything, we may not answer though," Keisuke said with a chuckle.

"I want to ask for Akagi as the home course for the Japan Timber Wolves I know there are only two of us right now but it would make things easier," David said calmly.

"I'll let you know, the Red Suns still call this home but we may be able to work something out," Ryosuke said climbing into the FC and tearing out of the parking lot followed shortly by his brother.

Over the next few weeks things went very smoothly for the newly formed team, they had permission from the Red Suns to call Akagi their home course, the two drivers were getting along very well with each other and were often seen at other teams races scoping out the competition.

"We've been challenged to a race at the Iroha slopes, the Emperor's territory," David said as he sat on the sectional in his living room.

"Kyoichi Sudo runs that team, they drive Lan-Evos," Ryosuke said taking a drag of his cigarette.

"This was some other guy, Kai Kogashiwa I think it was," David said looking out the window nearby.

"Guys good, he nearly beat Takumi last year, he drives an SW20 and you'll need to watch out for his line that goes through the air."

"So why did he lose?"

"Because he used it too early in the course and Takumi adapted and began using it against him."

The two men spoke of strategies David could use on the downhill, and the suggestion was made that Akari should make the run instead of David. Ryosuke left knowing that David would make the run and not mentioning that David would probably lose.

The week passed slowly as David and Akari waited for the challenge at Iroha. They practiced together the Wednesday before the challenge.

"David this course could be too much for your car to handle, its heavy as hell, you'll tear your tires to shreds after four turns on those hairpins," Akari said calmly as she leaned on the FD belonging to her.

"I know, but I want to try it, the course is tough and it will answer a question I've been mulling over for a while now," the tall blonde responded drinking from the can of coffee he had.

"Just trying to talk you out of this, I've gotten to know your style pretty well over the last few weeks, you are way too aggressive for the Iroha course David," Akari paused, "I just don't want you to get killed right before your girl gets here."

"I won't get killed, least I hope I won't," David said tapping the Chevelle's fender a couple times.

The pair left Akagi with a good nights practice and a good strategy if something went wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

Just a reminder I do not own Initial D, again if you don't believe that your problem not mine.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

Race day came along, David and Akari made their way to the top of Iroha while watching the crowd get bigger the further up they went. When they arrived at the top of the course they spotted the Evo III of Kyoichi Sudo, a man defeated once by Takumi Fujiwara and twice by Ryosuke Takahashi.

"You haven't gotten team stickers yet have you American?" a deep voice asked from behind the blonde haired man.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it, though not very hard, whose asking?" David responded with a chuckle as he turned around.

He saw a man slightly taller than him with a white bandana on his head and a black jacket walking towards him.

"I'm Kyoichi Sudo leader of the Emperor's, I came to watch the race on my home turf," the man said sticking a hand out.

David shook his hand and thanked him for the use of his course before spotting a blue SW20 coming up the pass. The car pulled next to him and Kyoichi and stopped, a shorter man with short black hair and a cocky appearance stepped out of the car.

"You must be Kai Kogashiwa, Akari told me a little of what you looked like," David said as he walked around the front of the car.

"That's right, and you must be the American right?" Kai said standing next to his car.

Time seemed to stop as the two drivers stared at one another, assessing the skills that the other had. Ryosuke and Keisuke were standing close by and both men noticed the tension level nearly double as they watched on.

David turned around wordlessly and told Akari to stay close to Ryosuke unless something went wrong as they walked towards his marina blue machine that seemed to be taking Gunma by storm.

The two cars lined up at the starting point before the first long straight of the Iroha downhill. Kyoichi Sudo stood before the two cars waiting for the signal to start the countdown. Kai opted for a side by side instead of the handicap start that David offered, saying that it would allow some kind of cheating.

"Alright," Kyoichi said as he raised his hand, "Five, four, three, two, one!" he shouted and he dropped his arm.

The marina blue Chevelle launched into a low wheel stand before tearing away from the SW20. David led the way all the way to the first hairpin before Kai caught up to him due to the massive speed drop.

"Geez did you see that, the front two wheels were two feet or more off the ground," Akari heard as she watched the two cars disappear around the first corner.

The high pitched scream of the revving SW20 motor behind David was drowned out by the loud roar of the 454 under his own hood as both sounds echoed through the mountain pass accompanied by the echoes of screaming tires.

The first hairpins David opened the gap between the two cars a considerable amount by being faster out of them. As the two cars continued barreling down the continuous hairpins they were just past half way through the course and David could feel his front tires losing their grip on the tarmac. He swapped to a different style foot work that would hopefully help control the tires more.

"This could get a whole lot more interesting," David said to himself as he flew around the corner.

"This is the halfway point, Kai has been using the line in the air for the whole race so far, the American is just too fast out of the corners for it to be effective," a guy on the road side yelled as Kai Kogashiwa sailed his SW20 through the air trying to catch his opponent.

"This guy is fast, I've been sailing through the raised curbs at nearly every hairpin, and I'm just barely keeping up," Kai shouted to himself as he followed David's car.

'_I know he's coming off the road back there I can hear the landing, but I'm pushing too hard on the tires, I push any harder and I'm going to lose it,'_ David thought as he flew through one of the last hairpin corners.

"Holy crap those two guys are flying, Kai is a full car length back but it looks like the American is starting to lose his tires" a man on the side of one of the last hairpins said into cell phone as he watched the two roaring machines as they tore through the corner in front of them.

Back at the top of the pass Akari and Keisuke were standing on either side of Ryosuke watching his computer screen that was keeping a simulated track of the two cars. Neither of the two seemed to notice when Kyoichi walked over.

"Akari, you're partner is out front for now, but the guy at the last post seemed to think he was losing his tire control," Kyoichi said as he watched the computer for a moment.

"He'll keep it to the end," Akari said confidently mostly to herself.

Ryosuke wanted to say something but kept his eyes on the computer screen instead.

Back on the course David was now struggling to keep the Chevelle on the road as he flew through the very last hairpin of the course. Then he lost control momentarily and because of it the back right quarter panel slammed against the guardrail with a very loud metallic bang.

"Damn, that's going to leave a mark," David said as he regained the control over his car.

Kai took advantage of the Chevelle's sudden drop in speed as he made up the car length distance between them and his SW20 began chewing on the Chevelle's bumper.

"This is the corner before the first bridge, the American just slammed into the guardrail and kept going, Kai made up the distance really fast cause of it, this just got more interesting," a man standing next to the first bridge's entrance yelled into the cell phone at his ear.

The two cars stayed bumper to bumper until, coming around one of the last corners before the second bridge, David slammed the brake pedal down and he felt the tires lock up and begin sliding across the tarmac.

"Oh shit!" David shouted as he turned the wheel hard to try and keep it away from the wall.

Kai noticed the loss of control and sped by the Chevelle to keep from getting tangled up in the mess about to come. The Chevelle sailed hard into the inside wall of the second bridge sliding the front left quarter across the wall before a rail post took out the headlight and stopped the heavy machine.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kai stopped his the blue SW20 before the official finish line and he ran back to the Chevelle, when he got back to it he noticed how much damage was done to the paint and the massive dent in the quarter and hood, but he also noted the engine was still running and his blonde haired opponent was holding the wheel very tightly.

"Hey, are you alright?" Kai asked as he climbed over the car to the driver's door.

"That is one rush I could have done without," David chuckled as he climbed out of the car.

Akari heard the news of the crash and started flying down the pass followed very closely by Keisuke, Ryosuke stayed at the top to talk things over with Kyoichi about the race results.

"Kyoichi, David told me to acknowledge any form of loss on their behalf, I don't think he had this in mind though, so I'll let him do the talking," the brown haired man said as he climbed into the FC.

"This wasn't an Emperor's race, why tell me," Kyoichi laughed as the FC took off down the Iroha slopes.

Back at the bottom of the course David had already moved the Chevelle to the finish line and was assessing the damage when Akari flew through the last bridge and her tires screamed to a stop next to the Chevelle. The blonde had to stifle a laugh when he saw her frantic face as his brown haired partner stepped out of her car. Looking at her David saw nothing special, but most men saw a 5'4" bombshell with shoulder length brown hair.

When she spotted the two drivers on the other side of the Chevelle she ran over and hugged the car apologizing to it for letting David drive it down the pass, completely ignoring the two drivers involved in the race and everyone else staring at her.

"Akari, it's all fixable, I already have the parts to do just that, in fact I can do all the repairs at the house," David laughed as Akari walked over to them.

"Yeah and what will Emily say when she gets here in a week and sees the car this way? She'd kill you and then me for not keeping you safe," Akari shouted as David continued to fail at keeping a straight face.

"Alright, let's get this big beastie to the house, and I'll start working on it tomorrow night, might get Mr. Yokama to give me a few days off just to work on her," David said climbing into the driver's seat of the Chevelle.

The two vehicles belonging to the Akagi Timber Wolves roared to life with a deafening roar and they left as if the damage to the Chevelle was only superficial.

The following morning David called his boss and told him the situation and Mr. Yokama offered to come and help with the repairs, and also gave him the entire week off to fix the now famous Chevelle. The front left quarter and the headlamp were the easy part of the repairs. The quarter panel on the back would be the hard part, the accident left a few scars in the paint and huge dent across the entire length of the panel itself.

David spent the rest of the first day of his week off getting all the damaged pieces off the car and replacing some of the suspension pieces on the left side of the car before calling it a night.

He was in the kitchen cooking himself a small dinner for himself when he heard a knock on the door.

"Akari, what brings you out here?" The blonde asked as he opened the door.

"Just coming to see what you've gotten done in all of two hours," Akari said as she stepped passed him and headed for the garage.

"I've been home all day, boss gave me the week off to fix the baby up," David said following her.

The brown haired girl walked into the garage and was shocked to see just how much he had done with the Chevelle, but more so at the car sitting in the center bay of the garage.

"So this is the car you got for Emily huh?" Akari stated more then asked as she paced around the bright orange 2000 Nissan S15.

"Yeah, it's the 2.0 liter DOHC with a single turbo and a six speed manual transmission; I tuned it up just a little bit so it might keep up with yours on the uphill if its straight," David chuckled as he leaned against the S15.

"She's not a racer is she?" Akari asked sounding oddly serious.

"No, but she always has liked riding shotgun with me," David stopped for a moment before saying, "First time she rode shotgun on the race course she had more fun than I did, she can drive don't get me wrong, she just can't handle a car yet."

"How long have you two been dating?"

"About two years before I got sent over here, but her father is determined I'm after more than just her," David said as he pushed himself off the car and walked in the house.

"So she will obviously be here longer than a week or so with you getting her a car," Akari said as she followed him back to the kitchen and sat on one of the bar stools.

"Actually I bought the car for me to use while the Chevelle is down and if it ever gets beat up again, but once Emily gets here it'll be hers for the two or three months she's going to be here," David said as he took his dinner off the stove.

"How did she convince her father to let her come? I mean you said he hated you and all right?" the brown haired girl asked leaning her elbows on the counter in front of her.

"For one he has no idea she is coming here to see me, she told him it was an exchange program for her college, which is actually true I guess, but he thinks the school is a long way from here not ten minutes from this house."

"Where will she stay, I mean won't he get suspicious if the phone bill between you two goes down or something?" Akari said with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Lucky for me Emily's mother likes me, and does the finances of the household when it comes to the phone and food bills, so he has no clue I've been talking to her at least once a week since I got her letter back in December," David laughed and Akari joined in the laughter.

"It's almost February now, you've been racing on snow and ice covered roads up till now, once all of this melts away its going to be harder on the tires of the Chevelle, David I want you to consider taking the supercharger off," Akari said getting oddly serious again, "David you really scared me at Iroha when the nose of your car came off the ground."

"I do it all the time back in the states, I know how to handle it here, but the supercharger is already going to come off, that's why I wanted to do the Iroha downhill myself," David said leaning against the counter across from Akari.

The two spent the next two hours discussing the strategy they would use against Project D when they were ready for that battle.

David woke up early in the morning to his doorbell ringing rather frequently. He climbed out of his bed and slowly made his way down to the front door.

"Who is it?" David called through the door as he looked through the peep hole.

"Takumi Fujiwara," the dark haired young man said as he turned back to face the door.

David immediately opened the door and let the 86's driver through the door.

"I heard you wrecked your car at Iroha, I kind of hate I missed that race but those guys you met at Myogi decided to run up Akina instead," Takumi said as he looked around the house.

"Well if you want to see the damage the Chevelle is in the garage, hey what time is it?" David asked finally realizing it was still dark outside.

"About four in the morning, I just got done with the morning deliveries, figured I'd come by while I had time," Takumi said with a slight chuckle.

David simply shook his head and pointed to the garage door before going up the stairs to get a shirt before meeting Takumi in the garage.

"So you've already started fixing it?" Takumi asked staring at the open spaces where the rear quarter and hood used to be.

"Yeah, and you get to be my second hand, grab the other side of the new hood," David said walking over to the already painted piece.

Takumi obeyed and put the bolts in the hood hinges where David told him to before simply watching everything the older man did and handing him the occasional wrench. David told Takumi everything he was doing when he did it and about an hour after Takumi walked through his front door David handed him the Chevelle's supercharger.

"So you're taking this off because the drag it causes in the higher RPM range?" Takumi asked as he looked the part over.

"Yeah, and the race in Iroha proved that I can't use it as much on the downhill," David responded taking the supercharger and placing it in one of his tool boxes where a lot of other parts rested neatly organized.

"Takumi, this is just a warning, not a threat or anything, next time you show up at four in the morning without giving me a little warning, you won't live to see the challenge from the Akagi Timber Wolves," he added as the two men walked out of the garage.

Takumi left the house feeling slightly scared of the blonde American. David simply went back to work on the Chevelle as if Takumi hadn't shown up at all. He finished the removing all the pieces that went with the supercharger and replaced all the springs in the carburetor with new ones, and put a shorter belt to replace the one that went with the supercharger, he even ran the motor to make sure everything still worked in proper form.

The week went by quickly for David, the blonde spent most of it lining up the new back quarter panel. When he walked into the office his boss met him in the lobby.

"So how's the Chevelle?" the tall gray haired man asked as he shook David's hand.

"She's doing alright, just need to paint the panels and the light frame, the hood I painted when I first got it, I pulled the supercharger off and have it stowed away, put the original air cleaner back on to," David replied stepping into the elevator.

"And your newest acquisition, an S15 I believe?" Yokama asked as the elevator pinged through the floors.

"I've got her tuned up pretty well, but it's still just a run around car till I get the Chevelle fixed," David said as the elevator doors opened and the two men went to work.

After work David drove the motorway home faster then he thought possible in the S15 so he could get on the phone with Emily and figure out when to pick her up at the airport on Wednesday.

"Hello, whose calling?" A deep voice answered the phone attached to the American number David had just dialed.

"Hi, this is David Crandon, just calling to update you on my Japan training sir," David lied seeing he wasn't supposed to know about Emily's trip.

"Well Mr. Crandon, I'm surprised to hear your voice, things going smoothly?" the voice asked sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Yes sir, very smoothly, matter a fact I couldn't find the time at work but we need to set up an investors conference for your Friday," David said knowing that talking shop off the company dime would get him off the phone faster.

"Certainly, now I suppose you want to speak to Emily, well she just left for the airport," the voice said with a smug tone.

"I understand sir," David said hanging the phone up.

He dialed his girlfriend's cell number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello David, I trust my father told you I had left for the airport?" Emily said with a slight chuckle.

"Imagine my surprise when he did, now I need to reschedule my day off to come pick you up, should be easy enough with my boss, but a notice would have been nice," David said faking an angry tone.

"Well I wanted to surprise you, Daddy didn't even set up a driver fearing you would find out, he really does hate you," Emily responded with a tone that sounded like she was pouting like a five year old.

"Well the boss wants to set up a meeting in the morning, but I should be able to weasel out of it."

"You better or you'll be leaving your girlfriend at the Airport."

"I do have a racing partner, I could send her after you," David said sarcastically.

"You do that then, I've been waiting to meet this Akari girl you speak so highly of," Emily responded sounding dead serious.

"Alright, I'll give her a call as soon as I hang up from talking with you, I'll come too so you can get used to your car," the blonde responded to the jealous tone in the woman's voice.

They spoke awhile on the phone before David had to hang up and call Akari with the flight details and where to meet up with the couple, and calling his boss and swapping his day off.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next day David drove to Narita Airport in the bright orange S15, he parked in short stay and walked into the baggage claim. He quickly spotted a 23 year old 5'5" blonde girl carrying a bright red bag in each hand and a purse on her shoulder running towards him.

"David, I missed you," the girl said in English as she dropped the bags and wrapped her arms around the taller man's chest.

"I missed you too Emily, let's get out of here Akari is waiting at the restaurant for us," David responded after returning the hug and grabbing the two bags, "Geez what did you bring with you, these things weigh a ton."

As they walked to the S15 David warned Emily of a few things, including that Akari spoke English quiet well.

"Oh, I always have loved your taste in colors David," Emily said excitedly as she stared at the bright orange car in front of her.

"Well, once I finish the Chevelle she's all yours so you're driving," David said throwing her the keys and walking to the left side of the car.

Emily looked at him confused before remembering Japanese cars were built with right hand drive. She climbed into the car and immediately noticed the left handed shifter, the third pedal, and the racing buckets and harnesses David had installed.

"So I take you've raced this car once or twice?" the blonde haired girl asked as she fastened the racing harness.

"Just once, to keep my brain in check," David said as the engine revved to life and settled back on idle.

The couple drove to the restaurant at what David thought was a snail's pace as he gave the instructions to get there. Once they arrived Akari met them in the parking lot and introduced herself in perfect English to the older woman before going in.

"Emily, David and I have a race in Akagi coming up as soon as the last of the snow clears from up there, should be a week or two from now might be a month seeing as it's been cold this year but, I'll teach you a few things after it's over," Akari said after they left the restaurant. The brown haired girl climbed into her FD and took off before Emily or David could respond.

Two weeks went by very fast for David as he finished up the repairs on the Chevelle's body, and retuning the motor when he had time after showing Emily the way to her school from the house.

"Hey the snow cleared out and the Red Suns are calling me every ten seconds, the race is on for Saturday at ten o'clock," Akari shouted as they ran through the open garage door at David's house.

"Alright, the Chevelle is ready for a new fight, and Emily actually can't wait to see what you'll teach her, we'll go out Wednesday and get reacquainted with Akagi, I haven't been out there since the crash," David replied from under the S15.

Akari saw Emily coming out through the house and walked out to meet her. The pair had become friends very quickly despite their age difference and the fact that Akari was a racer. The brown haired girl loved going shopping just for the heck of it and David and Emily both agreed the dresses she wore were much better than the T-shirt and jeans she wore to the races.

"Hey Emily why don't you and I go shopping Thursday from what I hear some of the stores near here are going to be having huge sales," Akari said with a grin as Emily nodded her agreement.

"Well I wouldn't dare get between you and shopping but you have class on Thursday Emily, and if I'm not terribly mistaken, so do you Akari," David said climbing out from under the S15.

"Spoil sport," Akari muttered as the twenty year old pouted like a five year old.

"David you are going to make a great dad one day, you're already acting like one," Emily said with a laugh.

David just nodded, and silently turned around and went back to cleaning up the garage. Emily followed him until she got to the driver's door of the bright orange car, as she climbed in she noticed David climbing into the Chevelle and all three went their separate ways. David went to work while Akari and Emily went to their respective classes.

The two members of the Akagi Timber Wolves met on their home course for night of practice down and up the mountain pass. Emily joined them and just stayed behind the blue FD as best as possible.

"So Emily, think you can race for us after watching me all night?" Akari laughed as the three people met in the top parking area.

"Not unless you ride along Akari, I'm just a rookie," Emily replied honestly.

"Well how about you ride with one of us first, and watch what we do," David said as he climbed out of the Chevelle.

"If we do it that way I'm riding with you David, and Akari can drive in front of us so I can watch the result of what you do with the wheel and pedals."

"We'll have to do that when we only have two cars out here, I don't think it's a good idea to leave either car up here," Akari said as she leaned against her FD.

"You can leave the Chevelle here with us if you trust us not to peak under the hood that is," A kind voice said in Japanese from behind the group.

"Fumihiro it's not you I'm worried about peaking, it's Matsumoto and Tomiguchi I'm worried about," David responded in Japanese without even facing the man who spoke to him, "What's Project D doing up here anyway, I thought Wednesday was our day for practice."

"Project D isn't, I came up here to get some practice of my own in, Tomiguchi is only here as a time keeper," Fumihiro replied as he walked into David's field of vision.

"Well that's not much comfort it still leaves Tomiguchi with my car," David laughed as he shook the dark haired man's hand.

"Hiroshi Fumihiro, this is Emily Davidson my girlfriend," he added in English pointing to the blonde girl next to him.

"It's nice to meet you Emily," the taller man bowing his head slightly.

David turned into the translator as Tomiguchi introduced himself and began asking questions about David's racing back in the states. The small group spent a few minutes talking before Fumihiro promised not to leave the Chevelle alone with Tomiguchi.

Emily climbed into the S15's passenger seat as David slid into its driver seat.

"Emily this could get a lot faster than your used to, we're going downhill and sliding all over the place, if it gets too much, just say the word, David will signal me and we'll stop," Akari said through the open window of the S15.

"I'll be fine, and I have confidence in my man," Emily replied without a trace of fear or worry in her voice.

The brown haired girl tapped the door a couple times before walking over to her FD and climbing into the driver's seat and taking off down the hill with a bright orange S15 close on its back bumper.

"They're on their way down, David left the Chevelle up here and is driving an S15," Fumihiro said into a cell phone, "No it's just a training thing for his girlfriend, but you should still be able to learn a few things."

On the course David noticed that the team was being followed. He signaled Akari to slow down by flashing the headlights. She complied and the blonde flew passed her followed shortly by a white FC with a Red Suns sticker on the back quarter panel.

"Oh shit, this just got fun," Akari said to herself as she picked up her pace again and fell into the line of cars behind the FC, "Wow, this guy is fast as hell, I'm pushing as hard as I can, and I can barely keep up, forget about passing," She added as she watched the FC slide through corner after corner behind the S15.

Once they reached the bottom of the course Emily had a grin from ear to ear on her face and David was struggling to breathe properly. Akari came into the lower parking lot a short time after the other two cars and stepped into Emily trying to hold an infuriated David back from going off his rocker.

"Ryosuke, why not just ask to see what I can do," David shouted as he broke loose of his girlfriend's hold.

"Because he thought if he asked he would see only what you wanted him to, and he wanted to see everything. Isn't that right Ryosuke?" Akari asked seemingly unaffected by the whole ordeal.

"That's right Akari, and this was also a good opportunity to see what you could do as well," Ryosuke said as he climbed back into his FC, before driving off leaving a stunned Akari and a still furious David standing in the parking area.

"Let's go," David said in a low tone as he jumped in the driver's seat of the S15.

"I'll ride with Akari on the way up okay?" Emily asked seeming to watch her tone very carefully.

"Sure, the uphill is her thing, you'll learn a few things from her," David said just before burning the back tires of the S15 and flying up the Akagi mountain road.

"We better go if we want to catch up," Akari said as she jumped into her FD.

Emily quickly got in and watched every move Akari made as she made her way back to the top parking lot. The women never caught the S15 until they got back to the top, only managing to spot its taillights a few times as they went up.

David reached the top of the Akagi pass and noted that as promised Fumihiro and Tomiguchi were still both there; he breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his car wasn't left with the Project D mechanic.

"David, I'm sorry for the deception, but it was Ryosuke's idea, he thought," the tall dark haired man was cut off by the Chevelle's door slamming and its engine roaring to life.

David rolled the window down momentarily to ask that they watch the S15 till Emily got back before leaving tracks out of the parking lot and on to the main road as he left.

"He's pissed, and Ryosuke wanted it that way, but this seems a little much even to me," Fumihiro said quietly with the long haired bleach blonde man nodding his agreement.

David passed his partner's FD about ten seconds after leaving the top parking lot but his head was so fogged up he didn't think anything of it. The pair got to the top lot and Emily rushed to thank the two men watching her car as she jumped in and drove off directly behind the blue FD.

The two cars pulled into the drive at David's house seeing the marina 1970 Chevelle was parked in its proper place as if it had never left. But they also noticed a black Mercedes CLK 500 parked on the lift and a pair of feet sticking out from underneath it.

"Who does this car belong to David?" Emily asked in broken Japanese while walking over to the car.

"It's mine, but I'm not David Ms. Davidson," a gray haired man responded in English while getting out from under the car.

"You must be David's boss, Mr. Yokama," Emily said sticking a hand out, "Where is David?" she finally asked.

"He went in to change cloths before coming out to give me a hand," Yokama said as he showed the young woman his dirty hands.

"Mr. Yokama, unlike my father, I don't mind a little grease under my nails," Emily said still holding out a hand.

"Better just shake her hand boss, she won't put it down till you do," David said as he walked back into the garage in a work shirt and jeans.

The men went back to work on the Mercedes as if the run in on Akagi never happened, and the two ladies went inside to stay out of their way.

"David took that run down Akagi with Ryosuke pretty badly, but he got over it quick," Akari said from the entrance into the garage.

"No he hasn't David doesn't get over anything very easily, but he knows very well how to hide being upset," Emily said as she walked up behind the younger girl.

"Well, I've seen him aggravated before, and I think I've seen him angry but this seemed a whole new level of pissed tonight," the brown haired girl said as she walked back into the house, "Listen, I'm going to head home, it's late and I have an early class, I'll be around call me if things bad with him tonight," she added walking out the front door.

David and Mr. Yokama watched as the blue FD took off out of the driveway and Emily pulled her S15 into the garage.

"Mr. Crandon I thank you for your help with the tune up, I'll bring my other car over tomorrow after work," Mr. Yokama said as he started towards the Mercedes.

"Mr. Yokama, have you ever had someone trail you down the mountain without telling you, someone you would be racing later on?" The blonde asked stopping the older man.

"Just once, a fellow called Bunta Fujiwara, but the only reason he was tailing me he was coming off morning deliveries while I was practicing late," Mr. Yokama said with a slight chuckle, "We raced later that following Saturday, he beat the pants off me in that 86."

"I know Takumi still drives that car, any tips to use against it?" David asked as the other man got in the Mercedes that was sitting on the lift.

"Yeah, stay behind him until the last possible second, then blow his doors off, if the kid is anything like his father that's the only way to win, and with your Chevelle over there it shouldn't be hard," the older man said pulling off the lift before leaving tread marks on the driveway.

The Saturday of the Red Suns race came and went real fast, the Timber Wolves set course records on both the uphill and downhill. David took the lead out of the gates and finished with enough time to do his 180 at the bottom of the course. Akari pushed ahead at the last corner by taking the inside and blocking the rest of the way to the line.

"Alright I think we're ready for Project D, all we have to do is figure out where and when, I want Emily to be here so it needs to be soon," David said as the parking lot emptied out after the races.

"I think we need at least a week to find a proper course, Ryosuke has already said they won't race us in Akina or Akagi, so maybe Myogi or Iroha," Akari said as she leaned on her FD.

"What about one of those other courses they went to with Project D?" Emily asked as she walked to David's side.

"I think we should stay local, that way they take Gunma back from us," David said with a slight hint of anger in his tone.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

David was on the phone with Sayuki of Impact Blue as both his racing partner and his girlfriend walked in from their shopping trip.

"So what do you think Sayuki, can the Timber Wolves use the course for our race against Project D in a month or two?" the blonde haired man asked as politely as he knew how.

"I'm sure we can arrange that, we win we get the course right?" David stated more than asking.

David hung up the phone shortly after and looking rather happy walked over and hugged both the girls.

"Akari you are going against the Sil80 duo this weekend, Saturday ten o'clock at Usui," David said as he walked up the stairs.

"David, can I race?" Emily asked stopping David in his tracks.

"Emily, you know better than that, this is important to me and Akari, you already have your stickers but let's not push the race button just yet," David said completely ignoring the puppy dog eyes his girlfriend was looking at him with.

"Why not, I've gotten better I kept up with Akari as she went down the other night," Emily half shouted.

Akari quietly ducked out with a simple nod to David as he came back down the stairs.

"You can keep up, but you can't pass her yet, that's something you still need to work on, and your blocking technique may be nearly perfect you need to get your speed up while using them. Emily I'm not trying to hurt you here, and even though Akari has told me you're improving every time you go down or up behind her, she also says you're not quite ready to race the big guys around here, the Akina Speed Stars you could walk all over, Thunder Fire too from what I hear," David paused to take a breath and noticed the tears in the blonde girl's eyes.

"Honey, you know I would let you if I thought you could handle it, but you've only been here for a month, you've got two more of practicing with me and Akari before you have to go home, and I'm sure we can set up a race in Akina for you in that time," the taller blonde man said hugging Emily tight.

A knock at the door interrupted their hug, and David went and opened the door for his boss.

"Mr. Yokama...," David stopped cold when he saw his boss' other car, a 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 painted grabber orange, "Sir, now I know why you like me so much," he finally muttered as he ran his hand over the car.

"No son, I admire you, being able to drive cars like these isn't an easy task and yet you make it look easy, I still have a hard time driving this machine," the gray haired man said as he walked towards the passenger door, "You're driving David, Ms. Davidson would you like to join us?" he asked as he threw the keys to David.

Emily climbed into the back seat behind David before Mr. Yokama climbed in on the passenger side. The mustang's engine roared to life before settling back to idle with David behind the wheel. With instructions from his boss the group made their way to a rather fancy restaurant where the familiar CLK 500 sat waiting for them.

"I hope you haven't had dinner yet," Mr. Yokama said as he helped Emily out of the back seat before handing her off to David.

"We really aren't dressed for a place like this," David said swallowing slightly.

"Mr. Crandon you are with me, meaning you are dressed well enough, otherwise I would have had you change," the gray haired man laughed as they walked into the restaurant and met with Mrs. Yokama.

The group had a good meal over good conversation about shopping in Emily and Mrs. Yokama's case, about cars and what Mr. Yokama wanted done to the Ford sitting in the restaurant parking lot between the men.

After dinner the entire group went back to David's home where the blonde haired man and his boss went to work on the Mustang as Emily and Mrs. Yokama went into the house to watch TV and plan a shopping spree with Akari who happened to be at the house to plan for the race in Usui.

"I'm leaving the Mustang with you for now David, the wife and I are going to a party where two cars would not be a good idea, bring it to work tomorrow, and I'll bring you home," Mr. Yokama said before climbing into the Mercedes' driver's seat.

"He really does like you," Akari said crossing her arms while leaning on David's, "I wonder why though."

The two teammates and Emily went back in the house and planned the race at Usui. The Sil80 duo had refused to race the over powered American car due to their cat and mouse chase start, even though David promised he would chase the first run, they still refused. The blue FD belonging to Akari would be their opponent because of this.

The week to the race passed very slowly, and Wednesday night met with tires and motors screaming through Akagi's mountain pass. A group of three cars sat in the bottom parking lot, a white 180SX and two others.

"Here they come," one of the three men said as the Chevelle's motor was heard getting closer to them.

Shortly after the American muscle car and a Blue FD pulled into the lot followed closely by an orange S15, as they parked the three men watched the cars noticing stickers on the back quarters of each car that read "Timber Wolves" in large black letters that were trimmed in white with a golden 'O' with a black center detailed to look like an iris.

As David stepped out of his car he noticed the drivers but didn't recognize any of them so he ignored them as he walked to the S15.

"Okay Emily did you see what I did to overtake the FD?" he asked as his blonde haired girlfriend climbed out of the car.

They carried a conversation about what was being taught that night as if the three men were never there, David explained how the pass could be made, Akari explained how to block the attempted pass David had explained.

After ten minutes the man who owned the 180SX grew annoyed at being totally ignored by the other people in the parking area.

"Hey cutie, if you want a real blast come ride with me," he shouted across the lot.

David ignored him as did Emily, Akari calmly walked over to the three men with a look that could freeze time itself.

"Gentlemen we are holding a lesson and practice session this evening, the pass is clear for now if you want to make a few runs yourselves, no one is stopping you," the brown haired girl said calmly.

"I don't want to just run it, I want to race on it tonight, and that little orange car is the one I want to race," the man said with a serious tone.

"She's a member in training at the moment, not up for racing just yet," Akari replied hearing two sets of footsteps behind her.

"Akari, if he thinks there is something he can teach me, let him race me," Emily said with a trace of sarcasm.

"I agree, seeing different techniques will help her training move faster than the two of us alone," David said finally getting Akari in on the plan.

The group of five left the parking area and drove to the top of Akagi leaving Akari in the lower parking area. They dropped the two other cars at checkpoints with David's phone number and instructions to move out after seeing the Chevelle. When David got to the top he parked the Chevelle and walked to Emily's window.

"If you're in front at the first checkpoint, smoke him, if not pass him then smoke him," he said before walking in front of the two cars.

He started the race and ran to the Chevelle and started following the racers down the pass, noticing Emily was out in front and opening the gap made him laugh. As they approached the first corner David noticed something very wrong with the 180SX, it was fishtailing out of the turn but the guy seemed to be keeping it on the road.

"Turbo charger," David muttered as he flew through the corner sideways to keep himself from catching up.

The three cars flew through the next series of corners with Emily still steadily widening the gap between the first two cars. David also noticed the 180SX struggling to keep its lines as they approached the first drop off point.

"He's already losing his tires," David noted once again clearing a corner sideways to keep from running over the other car.

He also noticed all he could see of the bright orange S15 were its taillights in the distance clearing a different corner, and the noise of a third motor behind him.

As she approached the half way point of the course Emily noticed that she couldn't see the headlights of her opponent's car or David's, she considered slowing down for a moment before putting her foot to the floor and going all out for the remaining half of the course.

'_I'll find out when I get to the bottom,' _she thought as she cleared the next few corners with near perfect drifts.

"Any slower and I'll be forced to pass him," David said as he turned the Chevelle sideways, practically putting the driver's door against the back bumper of the 180.

As the three cleared the corner David slammed the brakes and straightened out before taking the outside line of a left hand corner and walking passed the 180SX leaving it and its driver eating dust as he tried to catch up to Emily.

David flew through the rest of the course catching up to the light from Emily's taillights as they crossed the finish line. He flew through the finish line before turning his car around and putting it door to door with Emily's in the parking area.

"How does it feel to win?" Akari asked as they waited for the other three cars to come down.

"Pretty good, though I don't know how David didn't catch me before the line," Emily said as she was wrapped in a hug from behind.

"I didn't catch you because I waited till the halfway point to pass him, any time earlier than that and I might have," David said putting his head on her shoulder.

The three people heard three motors coming into the lot so their pleasant conversation ended and the two ladies moved to either side of David.

"That was a dirty thing you did back there," the 180's driver shouted as he approached the group.

"What exactly did you consider a dirty thing?" Akari asked once again sounding unaffected by the man's tone.

"He was all over my ass, pressuring me while she just drove way, I lost my tires before the half way mark because of him," the man shouted.

"I was only trying not to run you over, if you had skill enough to keep up with Emily, you wouldn't have lost your tires so fast, not to mention the turbo under your hood puts more stress on them, the fishtailing out of the corner cost you your back tires, your poor braking technique nearly cost me my car," David said calm as ice.

All three of the men stood in shock as David stared all three of them down. They all quietly walked back to their cars and left. David and the girls left after checking the cars over, David even checked his driver's door for a scratch because of how close he had gotten to the 180's bumper.

When they arrived at David's house the celebration continued as Akari listened to David recap the funniest moments of the race up till he passed the guy.

Saturday came faster after Emily's night of showing off a little, and all three cars drove up Usui pass noticing that most of the crowd was gathered at the C-121 corner as well as before and after. Once the team reached the top the first thing David noticed was that none of Project D was there, but the three guys that seemed to hang close to Takumi all the time were.

"Kenji, I'm sure you can tell me why Project D isn't here," David said as he walked over to the white 180SX.

"Yeah, they've been challenging folks over in Kanagawa, I guess they're either still running their last race or they're on their way back, they never run time trials over there for some reason," The black haired man said.

David nodded before just walking away from the three men. He noticed that Emily was looking a little nervous about being there even though Akari was standing right next to her, so he walked over and hugged her.

"Akari, they agreed to let you chase first, they told me Takumi did the same thing when he came out here the first time I want you to be careful out there, and you know where to make your move," David said as he held Emily's hand after letting go of the hug.

A short time later the two blue cars were lined up one after the other, leading the pair a 1998 Nissan Sil80 driven by a brown haired woman name Mako Sato, and in the passenger seat a blonde haired woman by the name Sayuki who Kenji had warned them about.

The two cars took off towards the first corner before flooring the throttles as they went through it, with the Sil80 seemingly pulling the FD with it.

"David, what is her strategy for this race," Emily asked looking up at her boyfriend.

"Wait and see, she's been working on her narrow passes, she knows precisely how wide that car is so even on this narrow road she can pass," the taller blonde responded keeping his eyes pinned to that first corner.

On the road Akari was keeping up with the Sil80 duo without much trouble, but she knew if she let her concentration slip even a little it meant a hard stop at the end of a long drop.

"Alright Akari, let do this," She said to herself as she pushed her FD to continue keeping up with the blue Sil80 in front of her.

The two cars sped through corner after corner getting closer to the C121 hairpin.

"This is the first checkpoint the two car just flew by, there is no distance between them, they're practically parallel drifting with each other, the Sil80 duo are still in front," a man shouted into his phone as he watched the two cars disappear around the next corner as the crowd around him cheered.

Akari was beginning to get into a good rhythm as they continued on drifting through corner after corner almost right next to each other.

"C121, that's where I make my move, I hope," She said as she once again stepped up her pace to keep the fleeing Sil80 as close as she could.

"Damn, this girl has skill, not to mention she's aggressive as hell through the corners, she's scraping her mirror on my door over here through the left hand corners," Sayuki said as the passed through one of the faster corners.

The two cars sped past another crowd of people with no distance between.

"This is the checkpoint before the C121 corner, these two cars are crazy fast, I think I saw them actually touching but I don't know," a guy said with half excitement and half total shock.

At the top of the pass David stood calmly as the reports came through. Hearing that Akari may have been close enough to touch the Sil80 excited him all the way down to his toes. He wasn't even in the race and his heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest.

"Alright, now comes the interesting part," he said still staring at the first corner of the course.

"David, latest report said that the two cars actually were touching, Akari's mirror was scraping at the door panel of the Sil80, that girl is out of her mind," Kenji said before walking back over to Iketani and Itsuki.

David ignored the worried look on Emily's face as he continued to watch the first corner of the course with his arms folded across his chest.

Back in the driver's seat of the blue FD Akari was still able to hold her place close behind the Sil80 duo.

_'As tough as this is, it's easier then chasing David around Akagi all night,' _Akari thought as she continued through the corners.

As the two cars approached the C121 Mako made a slight miscalculation and went slightly wide of her intended line.

Akari saw this and pushed the accelerator to the floor as the two cars flew through the corner in full drifts. The brown haired girl pushed as close as she could to the Sil80 without causing an accident before bringing the car's nose into the slight gap that Mako had left open.

Mako saw what her opponent was doing a little too late and was unable to close the gap before the exit. Both cars shot out of the C121 corner side by side before Akari used the power difference to pull out in front enough to block the inside line with a drift.

Both Mako and Sayuki were in such shock at seeing such a kamikaze driving style used on such a difficult course that they nearly missed the sand that was gathered on the road.

"I'm not sure what I just saw but the FD passed at C121," a girl muttered into her phone as the crowd around her also tried to figure out what they had seen.

Emily was jumping all around the S15 and Chevelle when she heard that Akari had won, David was standing in slight shock as he continued to put the pieces together from information that was still coming in from the corners before and after C121.

"Okay from what we understand, Mako made a slight mistake going into C121, Akari then pushed the nose of the FD into the gap left open and in a kamikaze move she forced the Sil80 into exiting on the wrong line, and so they came out of it side by side, then using the power difference in the two cars she pulled ahead," Kenji said with a hint of excitement in his tone, "Iketani is not happy with you guys, he was hoping that he could celebrate a win with Mako tonight," he finished pointing to the black haired man leaning on the S13.

"Tell him that now he gets to console her about losing to us and that usually goes farther than being there for a win," David said tying not to sound too happy about the win for Iketani's sake.

The only people left when the Sil80 and its FD opponent got back were Iketani, David and Emily. Kenji had taken Itsuki with him in the 180SX.

"I don't know what you were thinking but that certainly rattled our cage, that was a hell of a race," Sayuki said as she climbed out of the Sil80's passenger seat.

"Yeah, well I've been told I'm crazy with this car," Akari replied as the two members of Impact Blue made their way toward her.

"From what I understand that move would have rattled even me, but we would have been driver to driver in that situation," David said as he approached the trio of women.

"Well this means you can use the course for your race against project D, it was a clean race, even though a touch over the normal on aggression," Mako said as Iketani walked slowly towards her.

"Mako, can I speak with you, please?" Iketani asked as he turned and walked back over to his beloved S13.

David kept the other ladies busy talking about technique and possibly arranging for a training meet for Emily.

"Mako, I know I've been stupid in the past, but I think I'd like a third chance if at all possible," The tall black haired man said leaning on the car.

"Maybe, don't be late or think up some dumb excuse to stop seeing me this time okay," Mako said with a slight chuckle before walking away.

Iketani was so over come with joy he completely forgot about the other people when he started skipping around his car. David couldn't help but laugh drawing everyone's attention to the only other man in the crowd, when the black haired man heard the laughter he turned beet red and jumped in his car and drove away.

"Better get out of here ourselves, I've got to be at work in the morning," David said as he climbed into the Chevelle.

The four remaining cars made the sprint to the bottom with the Sil80 leading the way followed by the Chevelle with the S15 between it and the FD. As they made their way down David took in every detail he could, Emily watched the techniques of the other drivers, and Akari made sure Emily stayed out of trouble.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Back at David's house the party split up after discussing the Akina race for Emily for a short time.

"Akari and I have the day off from classes tomorrow, so we can use that time to check out Akina at the speed limit," Emily said from the closet.

"Alright, I'll talk to the boss, see if he might give you a few tips and me another go at that Mustang of his," David laughed as he threw himself on the bed. "Emily, be honest, were you uncomfortable out there tonight?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, it's just that all those people were out there for you and Akari, or Mako and Sayuki, that on top of the fact I didn't know anyone there besides you and you were off in your own world," Emily said stepping out of the closet with one of David's shirts hanging off her shoulders down to her thigh.

"Well, next time why don't you ask me and I'll introduce you to some of the people that I know, Kenji and Iketani are pretty nice guys, Itsuki is a bit stupid at times but he's alright."

"As much as I wouldn't mind that, there are just too many girls who are after you and guys after Akari, it annoys me that I don't get some of that attention."

David fell into a fit of laughter earning him a pillow to the face from the smaller blonde laying next to him.

"The fact is no one has seen you race before, and most of those girls at these things aren't my type anyway," the blonde man said after pulling the pillow off his face.

"Oh really now, then what is your type?" Emily asked with her voice loaded with sarcasm.

"Oh, short, brown hair, and brave enough to drive behind me going full blast," David replied with a cheesy grin plastered on his face that earned him another pillow to the face.

Emily knew he was describing Akari just to pick on her but her jealous side was winning the fight to pound the larger man into the ground with a pillow so she just kept hitting him.

"Alright, I give, I give," David said through his laughter. "Geez I never knew you were the jealous type."

"I'm NOT jealous!" Emily shouted voice only laced with true anger.

"Emily, you know full well you're the only girl for me, and if those brainless boobs' people call women out there don't get that then let them have their fantasies and ignore them."

"But what about Akari, she could take you from when I go home."

"Oh no, she wouldn't, her boyfriend would never forgive me, meaning I'd go back to the states in six foot by three foot box," David said trying to lift the mood a little.

"SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND!" Emily shouted making David nearly fall off the bed.

"Umm… I need to get some sleep," David said trying to ignore the fact Emily was about to fly out of the room.

He could hear Emily on the phone with Akari trying to get her to spill who her boyfriend was even though it was completely useless. David just rolled over and went to sleep knowing he'd get chewed out by Akari next time they saw each other.

The next day David went in to the office earlier than normal and didn't meet with Mr. Yokama in the lobby as he normally would but went in the older man's office and waited for him.

"Mr. Crandon, what are you here this early for?" the secretary asked when she saw the man.

"Hiding from the racing partner, I slipped up and told Ms. Davidson something that woke her up after a race."

"Oh, that's why a young lady has been calling looking for you."

David only nodded his response to the lady before asking her to tell the lobby that he wouldn't be meeting Mr. Yokama as usual.

While he waited the blonde worked on some of the paperwork he'd ignored the day before to get out of the office a little faster. Twenty minutes after David arrived, Mr. Yokama walked into his office to find David sitting at his desk.

"So you want my office then?" the gray haired man asked with a chuckle.

"No sir, but I am hiding here if you don't mind." 

"Not at all, for now, but after lunch I need this office for a meeting, my secretary warned me about what you had done, I'd like to keep you around for a little while longer at least, just remember to face you're mistake."

"Oh it's not that big a mistake, I told Emily that Akari had a boyfriend, which she doesn't, but Emily woke her up just after two this morning asking her all about the man who doesn't exist."

David spent the day up till lunch with Mr. Yokama in his office going over some of the numbers that David had been working on that morning, and discussing the Akina mountain pass.

"Alright, guess it's time to face the music," David muttered as he walked into his office where the phone was ringing.

He answered the phone to voice of Akari screaming at him about the phone call at two in the morning. After about ten minutes of letting her go on, David finally convinced her that Emily would be told the truth and that it wouldn't happen again, and they spent a few minutes talking about which one would go to Iketani about the Speed Stars race for Emily.

"Alright, I have to get gas in the Chevelle, it might be out of the way but I'll go to see them, Takumi is my only connection to them and he's tied up," David said finally after twenty minutes of talking Akari out of killing him.

"So I get to keep, so far, the best manager I've had in ten years for another day?" Mr. Yokama asked startling David.

"Only if you stop sneaking up on me like that sir," David said with a laugh.

David spent the rest of the day in business as usual mode until he left for the gas station where Itsuki and Iketani worked.

The blue 1970 Chevelle pulled into the Esso gas station, surprising Itsuki and Iketani.

"Fill it up with high octane would you Itsuki, Iketani and I need to have a chat," David said walking towards the older man.

"So David, what are you up to?" Iketani said as the taller blonde walked over to him.

"Came to challenge the Akina Speed Stars on behalf of Emily," David responded cool as ice, "Look I know you guys aren't the greatest around, but Emily wants a race and I don't want her getting pounded into the ground after all the hard work she's put in."

"I get it so we're kind of a race to see just how far she's come in a month and a half?" Kenji said with a note of hatred towards the idea in his voice.

"No more like a practice race, something that will help her figure out that she needs her own technique rather than copying mine all the time," David responded.

"I think it's a good idea," an older man said as he walked out the door for the store.

"Boss, you think we should go up against someone who trained chasing that car?" Iketani asked pointing out the Chevelle at the pumps.

"You must be Yuichi Tachibana, my boss Mr. Yokama told me about you and Bunta from his racing days, including the fact Bunta waxed him on Akina's downhill," David said extending his hand.

"Hmm. Yokama, sounds familiar, I think he drove an 86 Levin back in the day, as sentimental as I remember him being he probably still has the car," the graying man said rubbing his chin.

"He has at least two that I've never seen, I know he has a black Mercedes CLK 500 AMG, and a 1970 Ford Mustang, I also know that for a short while he drove a 280Z painted red," David said dropping his hand.

"David, your tank is full...What did I miss?" Itsuki asked as he walked over.

"Alright, Saturday at 10 pm, top of Akina," Iketani said his voice filled with determination that surprised all of them.

David nodded before turning around and getting back in the Chevelle and driving off. When David got home he noted that there were two cars sitting in his driveway that didn't belong to anyone he knew. One a white and black 1985 Toyota Levin with a carbon fiber hood and no front grille, and the other a silver 2003 Toyota Altezza. He also noticed the blue FD belonging to his brown haired partner parked in the garage next to the orange S15.

"Who do these belong to?" David asked himself as he walked around the two cars before walking into the front door.

"David, good you're home, this is Wataru Akiyama," Emily said pointing towards a tallish man with shoulder length black hair, "And his cousin Nobuhiko Akiyama," she said pointing to the other man who wore glasses.

"Gentlemen, why are you here?" David asked nodding in the general direction of the two men.

"Akari called me up after asking around about teams who had gone up against Project D, we came to offer help," the man in the glasses said calmly.

"Okay, what do we need help with?"

"The FD on the uphill run is insanely fast, he's been working on throttle control for a while now, we heard he beat 'God foot' Kozo Hoshino of the Purple Shadow using said throttle technique."

"And the 86 downhill is something else, I already knew all that gentlemen, now if you have information I don't have that would be nice," David said getting agitated.

"David, we can use their help, they can scout for us," Akari said trying to sway him,

"I also happen to know that Keisuke and Wataru are friendly rivals, so they could be here scouting for Project D," the blonde said in a tone cold as ice.

David stared the two men dead in the eye trying to figure out what the men's true intentions were.

"Alright American, have it your way, if you don't want our help then we'll leave, just remember this, we were just trying to be friendly," Wataru said before nearly knocking the door off its hinge.

Nobuhiko apologize for his cousin's short temper and ran out the door after him. David watched the two cars fly out of his driveway, the Levin with a little more power then he thought possible.

"Super charger," David muttered after hearing the distinct whine of the device.

"You can tell that from this far? How do you know it wasn't the motor?" Emily asked standing behind her boyfriend.

"You forget I drove a supercharged engine."

David turned and re-entered the house where Akari waited looking just as upset as David did. The tension between the two sent Emily to the kitchen to stay out of their way.

"Akari at least tell me next time you call for help," David said calmly, "You forget I've watched Project D drive before, even had the opportunity to drive behind Ryosuke twice."

"You are way too calm right now, and that worries me more than anything," Akari said after a short silence.

Emily peaked around the corner into the living space of the house when she didn't hear the two teammates shouting.

"Have you killed each other?" She asked in a child like tone while still hiding behind the wall.

David nearly fell over laughing, while Akari did fall over laughing.

"No we aren't going to kill each other, at least not yet," David said once he calmed down.

The next few hours were spent talking about strategies for Emily's race against the Akina Speed Stars. Emily was so excited she barely slept that night.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Over the next week David and Emily spent the nights on Akina practicing while Akari timed them. David was faster on the downhill having the heavier car. Emily was very close to his times with only a few seconds difference between them.

The Wednesday before the race the night air was cut by screeching tires and roaring motors as two cars made their way down the course. A blue FD sat waiting for the other two cars to come off the mountain pass. As the two cars came into the parking lot at the lower end of the course, a Marina blue Chevelle lead the way followed closely by a bright orange S15.

"Emily you've improved a lot since that run down Usui pass, but I want you to attack me on the next run not just watch me," David said as Emily climbed out of the S15.

"David, I was attacking, every corner in the course but you were too far ahead, if you want me to attack you give me a target I can hit," Emily said only half faking the anger in her tone.

The group heard the sound of a motor getting closer from the main road. David spun to face that direction and watched as the famous 86 of Akina drove into the small lot where they were. The three door car was dwarfed by the Chevelle as it parked next to it.

"Hey David," Takumi said with a slight bow towards the ladies.

"Takumi, what brings you out here this early?" David asked shaking the younger man's hand.

"Itsuki told me someone from your team was racing against Iketani I thought I'd come meet them," Takumi said scratching the back of his head.

"Well you've met Akari, so the only one you don't know is Emily," David said pointing over his left shoulder.

Takumi got a confused look on his face that made David turn to see Akari behind him and the S15 gone. The blonde let quick irritated sigh as he headed for the Chevelle to get his phone.

"Why don't we chase her down?" Akari shouted as she jumped in the FD.

"Last one to the top is a rotten egg," Takumi shouted as the 86 took off leading the way out of the lot.

David was the last one in his car and moving but he caught up to the other two with ease due to the power of the Chevelle's custom built motor. As they made their way through the corners the three drivers swapped places in line putting Takumi in the back of the line and David out in front. The 86's engine roared to its peak RPM as Takumi pressed hard trying to keep up with the two cars belonging to the Timber Wolves. All three cars passed Emily on her way up causing her to get in on the fun of follow the leader.

By the time Akari, Emily and Takumi arrived at the top David was standing outside his car waiting for them, Takumi came in last to the top due to the lower horse power of his 86's Group A engine. They spent the last of the practice night picking on Takumi about being the one who suggested a last one to the top race against two turbo cars and a V8.

A little after one in the morning David and Emily arrived back at the house David's boss had generously arranged for him to have. The pair fell asleep on the couch David holding Emily close to him.

The rest of the week flew by and Saturday moved fast. Mr. Yokama had arranged for David to have the day off in spite the meeting he was supposed to head, Emily and Akari spent the day doing a little shopping after their classes ended while David tuned the S15.

At ten o'clock Saturday night David and the two other members of the Akagi Timber Wolves waited for the Akina Speed Stars leader to show.

"No crowd at all compared to when Takumi raced here," Kenji said as he climbed out of his 180SX.

"It's a race of two unknowns of the two teams, they may not care as much," Akari said in her usual calm tone.

The two tone S13 belonging to Koichiro Iketani drove into the pull off area at the radio tower followed closely by Mako and Sayuki's Sil80. Mako and Sayuki climbed out of the Sil80 while Iketani moved his S13 to the start line next to its newer relative, the S15.

David stepped between the two cars as Akari set up behind the two vehicles. Muttering turned into cheers from the crowd as the FD sat idling quietly behind the other two cars waiting for the start.

"Hey that isn't fair," someone yelled from the crowd, but the crowd didn't listen and just kept on cheering.

"I hope you know how to move fast David," Akari said to herself as she watched the man through her windshield.

David's hand dropped and the two main competitors took off down the course as David jumped into the passenger seat of the FD, trusting Kenji with his Chevelle. The pair watched the race unfold in front of them as Akari fell behind the S15 to be lead around the course.

"Iketani is pretty good, I'm actually impressed, it's a basic technique of using the hand brake but it does work," David said making Akari laugh.

"Hey come on, Emily is doing pretty good to," Akari said playfully slapping David on the arm before returning the hand to the steering wheel.

"Yeah she is, look she's going for it."

David and Akari watched, in the straight section right before the five hair pins Emily and the S15 passed Iketani on the outside line before drift blocking the inside then straightening out and flying through each hair pin. After the hairpins Iketani caught up but Emily managed to block each of the attacks and lead the entire way to the three lane section where she lost her line mid corner. Iketani tried to use that to his advantage but was blocked by the more powerful engine of the turbo S15.

At the bottom of the course Iketani congratulated Emily on her first official win in Japan, and headed off back to the top.

"Call Kenji and tell him Iketani is on his way back up, I'll drive the S15 back to the top," David said as Emily climbed into the passenger seat.

When David got back to the top he noticed that Mako and Sayuki looked very angry at the person they had cornered between their car and Kenji's 180SX while Kenji and Iketani inspected the Chevelle's door. David nearly ran over the two bringing the S15 right next to the Chevelle.

"What's going on?" Emily asked as the two enraged women continued to stare the man down.

"This guy kicked The American's car, for no reason at all it would seem," Sayuki said nearly screaming.

"Who is 'The American'?" Emily asked looking around.

"I am honey. Guys what's the damage?" David responded calmly.

"Nothing bad, just a scratch, he may have broken a toe though," Kenji responded noticing how the man was favoring one foot.

"So what was your reason for kicking my car," The blonde man asked with a chuckle, "I mean you did more damage to your foot then my car."

"I kicked a second rate car in a second rate team," the man said with total confidence, "And I don't think this heavy thing has a chance against Project D's downhill ace."

"I may not stand a chance, but if you want me to show you what I can do I'm sure anyone of the owners of the six cars here would let me show you," David said with the same confidence.

"He isn't kidding is he?" Iketani whispered to Emily.

Emily simply shook her head at the question and continued to watch what was happening as the man who kicked the Chevelle walked around each of the cars.

"I think he wants to prove it's not just the power of the Chevelle that's getting him ahead, but his technique," Emily said as the man walked around the cars.

"This one would make things easy enough for me," the man said pointing at the white 180SX belonging to Kenji.

Kenji nearly flew off the mountain, when the guy looked at his car. David walked over to Kenji and told him not to worry too much about it and he would just smoke the guy from the line.

"Promise I'll bring her back to you in one piece Kenji," David said noticing the nervous look still on the man's face as he sat in the 180SX's driver's seat.

"I know you will, but he might not let you," Kenji replied trying to make it sound like a joke, and failing spectacularly.

The white 180SX made its way to the line where a black S13 was waiting to race against the Timber Wolves downhill racer. Kenji stepped between the two cars and did the countdown.

At the go both cars flew passed Kenji and started making their ways down the Akina pass. David moved the 180SX into the lead spot and made the task of pulling away look as easy as if he was driving the Chevelle.

"That guy was all talk I guess," David said as he lost sight of the S13's head lights.

When he got to the five hairpins he once again simply allowed the car to do most of the work around the first two, and then hooked the tires as he had seen Takumi do the first night they met on the last three.

"I hope whoever is at the bottom is keeping time cause this will probably be the fastest this cars ever gone down the pass," David laughed before pushing the pedal even closer to the floor before slamming on the brakes and sliding around the remaining corners to put on a show not letting the squirrely feeling from the back tires, or the differences in this car and his own effect his driving.

Back at the top of the course Kenji was relieved every time a report came in that his car was in one piece, Iketani and Mako were shocked at the times David was putting down and the gap between the two cars continuing to grow. Akari and Emily were just as shocked to see that he was going so fast in someone else's car.

David took his phone out and called Akari still going down the pass, to find out how far back the S13 was or even if he was still going.

"David, are you out of your mind?" Akari yelled into her phone when she heard his voice.

"Akari, how far back is he? I can't hear him, I'm only figuring out if I should turn back," David said calmly with the phone lying on his leg.

"As far as we can tell he's still in it, but he's just coming out of the last hair pin of the course."

David slammed his foot to the floor and crossed the finish line before spinning the 180SX on a dime to start making his way back up the pass.

"Alright, I just finished I'm heading back up so I'll be looking out for him," the blonde said as he pressed the off button for his phone.

The two cars passed each other, and the shock of seeing the 180SX going the other way sent the driver of the black S13 into the three lane corner, where Takumi passed Ryosuke Takahashi and Seji Iwaki, too fast causing him to spin out.

When David got back to the top of the course he met with five stunned and relieved faces and one that showed nothing but excitement.

"Did I do something wrong?" David asked with a nervous chuckle as everyone continued to stare at him.

Emily ran over and wrapped her arms around the taller blonde's neck and kissed him full on the mouth, making Mako and Iketani blush. When the two broke away from each other David tossed the keys to the 180 back to its black haired owner who didn't even notice them bounce off his chest and fall to the ground.

"Kenji, I won and I brought your car back, it's not a dream, it's a good car, though you should really set the suspension differently, it starts getting squirrely at the exits," David said after picking up the keys.

"But you came close to Takumi's last recorded time in Akina from the race against the Lan-Evo IV," Iketani said finally breaking the silence between them.

"Didn't know that," David said with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "Akari, Emily let's get out of here, I have paint to fix."

Akari followed Emily and David down to the bottom of the pass before going her own way home. When the brown haired girl got back to her home, a small apartment building, she began thinking about what Iketani and the others had said about David's close times to Takumi's.

'_He wasn't even driving his Chevelle, how did he get so close to Takumi?'_ Akari asked herself as she walked around her apartment, _'It makes me wonder what he drove before the Chevelle. I know he drove a 350Z for the first month, but before he came here I don't know anything.' _

The brown haired girl spent the remainder of her night thinking about the upcoming challenge with Project D in Usui pass. Meanwhile David and Emily arrived at the house where they both fell asleep the minute their heads hit the pillows.

The next day Akari met up with Emily at David's house after school to go shopping while David was still at work. During the trip the two talked about the night before and what Emily could do to go faster.

"Emily, do you know what David used to drive before the Chevelle?" Akari asked pulling back into the houses driveway after a day of shopping.

"Not really, I've only known him two and a half years, he was driving the Chevelle then, he's had that car for at least five years from what he said," Emily responded staring through the windshield at her S15 in the garage.

It was only after Akari asked her question that the brown haired girl noticed that the Chevelle was sitting behind the closed door of the third space. The two girls entered the house to find David resting on the couch.

"David, what all kinds of cars have you driven?" Akari asked point blank after the older man greeted them.

"I've owned five or six cars, I currently own three," David said rubbing his eyes.

"Not what I asked."

"David, I'm curious too," Emily said quietly as she sat down near the taller blonde.

"Alright, how far back do you wanna go? Because there is a list the length of my leg," David asked as Akari sat in one of the chairs in the room.

"How about as far back as your driver's license, I know American's get theirs earlier then we do," Akari replied.

"Well I started racing the day after I got my full license; I was hanging around the scene before that but not driving anything."

"_Yo David, you've been hanging around this team for a while now, wanna race with us?" A taller dark haired man asked as he walked towards a 16 year old blonde._

"_No car Mac, unless you want me to borrow one," David said with a laugh._

"_Go ahead, you've been riding shot gun enough to drive her," Mac said as he tossed his keys to the young man._

"_I'll take good care of her," David said as he climbed into a blue 1984 Nissan 300ZX._

_David would be facing off against one of the Timber Wolves team just for a lap of fun on the course. The course was easy and with his friend riding shot gun to tell him what to do, he knew at least the car would be in one piece at the end of it, he couldn't say anything about his nerves._

_The go was given and the 300ZX flew ahead off the line, the modified 289 Mac had used to replace the original V6 climbing through the RPM range before David shifted to the next gear just at the right moment to keep the car flying through the speedometer numbers._

_Mac had gone over the basics of the engine with David before the race, how he had swapped the old factory turbo V6 for the modified V8 under its hood now. He bored a 289 block up to a 350, put a set of ported 350 V8 heads with a four barrel carburetor and intake on in place of the original equipment, the exhaust was totally custom built due to the new engine, but still retained all the proper equipment to keep it street legal and all the work was done in a professional shop to be sure of it._

"_Okay start the brake," Mac said quietly before noticing the change in the 16 year old driving his car._

_The 300ZX flew past its usual braking point before flying through the blocked corner without its brake lights ever coming on. Mac couldn't figure it out what happened, he knew that he had never gone through that corner that fast, let alone doing it without braking at all. _

_David broke the course record in his first race ever and in a borrowed car on top of that._

"_David, I think it's time I give this old hot rod up for something new, how about you drive her for the team?" Mac asked as he stepped out of the car._

_David did nothing but stammer for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do._

"_Come on kid, it's not like you'd get it for free, you'd have to buy her from me, but until you can you can drive her as much as you want, even keep it at your place if your parents agree," Mac said trying at least to calm the younger man down a bit._

"_I guess its okay, I'll bring my dad by your place tomorrow to pick it up, I can home from here," David responded calming himself down._

"The next day I picked up the 300ZX and drove it as an official member of the Timber Wolves, after that one got torn up in an accident a few years later there was another Nissan and a couple Hondas that all ended up modified for street racing," David paused to take a breath and noticed Akari's intrigued look, "Once I got my current job I was driving an old 1991 Chevrolet Caprice."

"So you were driving a heavy car in a street racing environment before the Chevelle?" Emily asked quietly.

"How heavy are we talking, I'm not from where you two are from," Akari asked scratching the side of her head.

"About five thousand pounds, I can't really convert that to kilos, sorry," Emily said with a smile.

"After that the Chevelle is all I've had besides the S15 in this garage, and my treasure back home," David said with a yawn before dozing off on the couch again.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

A month moved pretty slowly for the Akagi Timber Wolves team. Akari and David spent as much time as they could in Usui pass, practicing at night with the Sil80 duo, David tuned both cars with Akari's help. Emily spent the time practicing techniques with the Akagi RedSuns and Sayuki riding along giving her tips when she was in Usui with David and Akari.

"David I'll be at Usui to watch the race, don't disappoint me," Mr. Yokama said as they walked out of the building together on the day of the race.

"Be at C121, that's where the excitement will be on the downhill run," David said as he climbed into the S15.

"Where is the Chevelle today?"

"Resting at home, I locked down my settings for the race last night so I figured I'd take Emily to her class and drive this to work today," David responded before driving out of the parking garage.

At seven o'clock Akari met with David and Emily to drive to Usui pass, David's boss also met them at the house in his 280Z.

"I haven't driven this car in a while, but I don't think I've lost my touch," the gray haired man laughed while David went over the car.

"It's well kept, right now I don't have time for a full inspection, we have to go, where is Mrs. Yokama?" David said walking back towards his Chevelle.

"She isn't coming, she had a book club meeting," the oldest man there responded as he climbed into the 280Z.

The four cars drove straight to Usui pass for the biggest challenge the Akagi Timber Wolves had faced yet.

Once at Usui pass they saw a large crowd of people gathered at every safe corner of the pass. David, Akari and Emily drove up leaving the bright red 280Z at the C121 hairpin where the largest crowd so far had gathered.

When they reached the top of the pass they saw both drivers of Project D standing by their cars and the four support vans the David had seen at the last challenge he went to. David noticed that Emily looked more nervous than usual at this kind of event, even though she had met most of these people.

"Ryosuke, I see you brought your FC, I like the changes," David said pointing out the new carbon fiber hood and fixed headlights on the front and the spoiler on the back.

"David, the Chevelle looks better then when we first met, what happened?" Ryosuke said sounding genuinely curious.

"Had to repaint it, someone scratched it while we were in Akina last month," David said before adding, "It wasn't me," when he noticed Keisuke looking at him.

Keisuke laughed at David's reaction to the look before telling Ryosuke that the road was clear and the cars were ready to go.

"We'll do the downhill first, I want to chase first," David said stunning both Keisuke and Takumi, "The power difference would make all the difference on this course so I'm just trying to be fair."

Ryosuke nodded and the two FDs and the support van for Keisuke's car made their way to the bottom of the pass.

When they got the all clear from the bottom, Takumi and David lined the 86 and the Chevelle up on the non official start line.

"Okay, we're using Usui rules here, the official start is that first corner, after that the race is on," Fumihiro said speaking to both drivers who nodded their understanding.

"David Crandon, the American," David said politely as possible.

"Takumi Fujiwara of Project D," Takumi said bowing slightly to the older man, "I won't hold anything back, I hope you don't either." He added before climbing into his beloved 86

David simply nodded before climbing into his Chevelle. The tension around the two cars seemed to double as Fumihiro started the countdown. Ryosuke watched the cars carefully noticing that David's aura as a racer had gotten almost as bright and as strong as Takumi's.

Emily walked over to Ryosuke just after the two cars took off towards the official starting point.

"Ryosuke, I think this one is a tossup, what about you?" She asked in English trying not to sound as nervous as she felt.

"You have no reason to be nervous Ms. Davidson, David is an excellent drifter, he's gotten much stronger since the night I drove with him down Akagi," Ryosuke replied calmly.

On the course, even though they had only gone through a few corners David had already noticed a major change in Takumi's driving style and the way his car moved.

'_They lightened the car, must be the back hatch, the thing rolls on the suspension less then that night in Akina,' _David thought as he matched the 86 drift for drift.

"This is insane, I've never seen either of these cars move this fast," someone shouted in to a phone as the two cars blew passed the crowd matching each other's drift.

David noticed his tire's slipping a little more than they should have been so early in the race. Then he noticed that Takumi's car was moving away from him an inch at a time.

'_Alright, these tires are shot so I'll make that work for me,'_ David thought as he pushed the Chevelle closer to the 86's bumper.

Takumi was given no instruction for this race other than to run it his way, and he was running full throttle and he couldn't shake the monster of a car that was tailing him.

'_C121, he's going to try something there,' _Takumi thought as they approached the hardest place on the course.

The crowd at the entrance to C121 watched in awe as the two cars came into the corner with Project D's 86 in front. The man reported that Takumi was in front, but was interrupted by someone shouting that the Chevelle came out of C121 first.

"Ryosuke, Takumi was passed in C121, how is that possible?" Fumihiro asked ignoring the blonde haired woman standing close by.

Takumi sat watching the Chevelle pulling away from him as he thought about what happened. He had watched the Chevelle moving to the outside, but nothing else seemed to register after that moment.

'_What the hell was that?'_ he asked himself as the image of the large blue machine disappeared from his passenger mirror and reappear in the driver's mirror of the 86 played through his mind.

David was leading the race and still sweating bullets because of what he had done on instinct alone.

_David was trailing the 86 by less than half a car, so he floored the accelerator and allowed the gap to close before readjusting his line mid-corner he slid around the back bumper of the 86 leaving just centimeters between the two cars. Once he cleared the 86 he just floored the pedal and prayed the car would hang on, and it did._

Mr. Yokama along with the entire crowd knew David had won now that he could just go all out, but it was still shocking to see such a kamikaze style move in the C121 hairpin. He could hear muttering calling that move cheating, but before he could say anything someone else did it for him.

"The 86 was passed clean, the American used his horsepower in a place where it meant everything," A deep bass voice said silencing the voices around him.

Mr. Yokama and saw a tallish man with a white bandana being stared at with a combination of anger and agreement from the different people in the crowd.

"The man is right, it was a clean pass using an outside line and a ton of luck," Mr. Yokama agreed not caring he was agreeing with a total stranger.

The two men stood side by side continuing to listen to reports of the race.

"I'm Kyoichi Sudo of the Emperor team in Nikko-Irohazaka," Kyoichi said before pointing to a pony tailed man, "That's Seji Iwaki, we've both been beaten by the 86, so it's tough to think anyone can beat him, my question is why back us?"

"The American happens to be one of my company's managers, but I agreed because even in the old days that move would have been considered a clean pass."

"The 86 is still on the American's back bumper, they picked up the pace too, they'll break Usui's course record by nearly ten second's at this pace," someone shouted for the entire crowd to hear.

On the course David was starting to get nervous about how this underpowered 86 was keeping up with his car. Everything he tried to go faster just seemed to pull the 86 into going just as fast. As the two cars flew through corner after corner David's concentration was beginning to falter somewhat.

"That's it, I've got no more to give," David said through gritted teeth as he swung the car wide to block the entire road, after the corner he reached up and twisted the mirror away from his sight line.

Takumi in the 86 noticed a change in the style of David's driving.

_'Crap, he's gotten comfortable with this amount of pressure, and the line is coming up fast,'_ Takumi thought as he watched the Chevelle start opening the gap little by little.

He stepped up his pace to at least try and keep the gap from opening any more before the end of the race.

A black R32 was waiting at one of the final corners of the course next to it a red EG6.

"This race ended at C121, the American has more flat out power, and with the course nearly level it will be hard for 86 to even keep up," a short haired man said as they listened to the two cars coming closer.

"Come now Takeshi, you know what we both said about the 86, and look at us, I wrecked and you got beat pretty badly," the long haired man standing next to the other said.

"Shingo, we also got be beat by the American," Takeshi said before noticing how close the other man was, "Would you back off man, people might get the idea we like each other."

The Chevelle flew passed the two men with the 86 only a step behind it with its headlights down. Both engines roaring louder than they normally would. David knew his engine could give no more but the sound of the Group A engine seeming to have no end to its limits scared him.

_'Damn, where is that line, my concentration is blown even though I can't see him I can hear that monster, and I know he's driving blind cause his lights aren't on my dash anymore, what is this guy,'_ David screamed in his mind as he cleared the final corner of the course and spotted the cheering crowd, "Finally," he said exhaling loudly.

The Chevelle crossed the finish line in first place with no room to spin like he normally would he just let the car coast down before stopping far enough away from the uphill starting line. David sat in his driver's seat ignoring the death glare from Keisuke and Kenta were giving him and his car.

"David, are you alright," he heard Akari's voice calling through the window.

He just nodded his response as his body came down from the massive adrenaline rush that had built up during the race. He noticed that even Keisuke and the members of Project D were beginning to look worried, so he stepped slowly out of the car his heart still pounding through his ribs.

"Damn, we thought you had a heart attack for a second there," Keisuke said with a half joking tone.

"I may have, I'm not even sure how I'm upright at this moment," David laughed, even though his racing partner still looked very worried.

"There is an Orange S15, a bright red 280Z and Ryosuke's FC following the Project D van, they just passed the next to last corner, after that the road is clear," someone spouted through the radio Tomiguchi had in his hand.

"David-san, can I speak with you?" Takumi asked nervously.

The two men walked to a spot where the crowds were no longer paying attention to them but the uphill start.

"What's up Takumi-kun?" David said even though he hated being formal with someone he considered a friend.

"I wanted to know if you were holding back, I won't tell if you were," Takumi said sounding more serious than before.

"I made a promise to you and Ryosuke both that I would not hold back during my race with you, I never break my promises even when it goes against what I believe in," David said trying not to laugh, "You were on my tail the whole way down, and if you had just a little more course you may have passed me again, I had nothing left to give and the car was screaming at me to stop the madness."

David finally broke down and let out a chuckle that lead to both of the men laughing as if the race had never happened.

"Takumi-kun!" a voice called out from the crowd.

A girl with short brown hair, wearing a short skirt and t-shirt walked out of the crowd.

"Natsuki!" Takumi stammered, "What are you doing here, I thought you were still in Tokyo."

Before David could understand why Takumi looked insanely freaked out a black haired girl ran out of the crowd, completely ignoring the other girl, and jumped into Takumi's chest.

"Ummm, I'm going to go now, I hear the S15 coming in," David said trying to get out of such an awkward situation.

David left Takumi to the two girls to meet up with his girlfriend and boss and watch Akari's start to the uphill.

"David that was fantastic work at C121, passing on the outside is impossible but you pulled it off somehow, what was in your head?" Mr. Yokama asked as the blonde walked over to the pair.

Emily jumped into her boyfriend's arms and awarded him with a kiss for his win before David could even answer the question his boss had asked.

"The only thing in my head during the pass was prayers that my tires wouldn't let me down," David laughed as Emily turned around in his arms to face his boss.

The three waited for the start of the uphill race. After the two cars took off Ryosuke watched with slight amusement seeing Takumi trying to get out of his situation with the two girls that had show up at the race. David watched the road, and Emily talked about things with Mr. Yokama.

"David, shouldn't you go help Takumi?" Emily asked after a report from the C121 that the two cars could be heard.

"Not yet, I want to see what Akari does at C121," David said with a devilish grin.

Emily scoffed a little at the idea of leaving Takumi to hang, so she walked over to the three people while David watched Takumi get even more freaked out.

"Takumi, why don't you introduce your two friends," Emily said with a friendly tone.

"This is Natsuki Mogi, she and I dated in high school," Takumi said as he gestured to the brown haired girl in the mini skirt, "And this is my girlfriend Mika Uehara," he finished while gesturing at the long haired girl in slacks.

"My name is Emily Davidson, I'm the American's girlfriend, I'm curious why you look so freaked out Takumi," Emily said trying not to laugh.

Takumi finally relaxed realizing that none of the ladies present were going to try and kill him.

On the course Akari was out in front for the first run and at C121 she powered through in full drift just to keep the yellow FD firmly behind her.

_'Damn, this guy is incredible, I can't get away from him at all,' _Akari thought as she flew through the corner after C121.

Fumihiro called the bottom of the course with the news of a second run of the uphill, and that the two drivers were on their way back down.

"I have an idea for Akari to use, I want an honest opinion if it will work boss," David said as the crowd and teams waited for the drivers to return to the bottom.

"Alright, let's hear it then," the gray haired man responded sounding serious, more so then he normally would.

"Akari knows my car almost as well as her own from all the time she's driven in front of and behind it, if she puts the image of my car in front of her instead of the FD, do you think she could pick up her times and get away from this guy?" David asked as Emily walked up behind them.

"It could work, she has followed you up and down this pass, so she knows how it would react, try it and see," his boss responded as the two cars came back into the lot.

David walked over to the car and explained what he wanted his brown haired partner to do. She agreed and told him that she would go all out on this run. As the blonde walked away from the blue FD he noticed tucked away in the corner of the lower lot that a black FD was sitting quietly out of sight.

"I wonder who that belongs to, can't believe I missed it," David said quietly to himself as he walking towards Ryosuke. "Hey Ryosuke, who does that black FD over there belong to?"

"It belongs to a girl who's fallen for my brother, her name is Kyoko Iwase and he did ask her not to come to these events after the Saitama prefecture, but she's been hiding out on course sides and such even during practice, I'm surprised he hasn't noticed yet," Ryosuke responded with his usual calm tone.

"Look there is something I want to talk about, come to my place in a couple days and we'll talk it over," David said walking away without a response.

On the course Akari was now chasing the FD and out in front of it the image of David's Chevelle and she figured out that Keisuke was holding back for the sake of his tires. She also figured out just how to pass him and catch that Chevelle. At the C121 hair pin she made her first move in a three stage attack.

Both cars drifted through the corner and Akari floored the gas putting the two cars mirror to mirror. As they came to the exit she launched the full brunt of the attack, she slipped a little closer to Keisuke's door and letting his car break the wind resistance. Coming out of the corner this made her slightly faster and able to come out of C121 side by side, putting her on the inside of the next corner, and in perfect Kyoichi Sudo style, she used that to her advantage, by waiting a half second longer to brake she was able slip in front and block the next corner.

'_They're both out of their damn minds,'_ Keisuke thought as he forced his car to go faster in order to keep up with Akari's blue FD.

Keisuke couldn't figure out what Akari was chasing but the pace had doubled and she was still getting away from him an inch at a time through the corners. The spiky haired man was getting angry, his Aniki had not given him any advice, and he was losing.

"WHY CAN'T I KEEP UP?" Keisuke shouted as he floored the accelerator forgetting all about tire control.

Akari noticed his change in pace, but she was still chasing an invisible opponent, her partner's car, the 1970 Chevelle that she still couldn't catch going uphill.

When they reached the top of the pass everyone was shocked to see the blue FD leading the way into the parking area where the barricade for blocking the road during the snow season stood.

"I understand, get everyone down here as soon as you can, we're done here," Ryosuke said into his phone.

"Your partner passed Keisuke, I don't know what you told her before the second run, but it worked," Ryosuke said walking to his FC.

"Hey Ryosuke, you and me on the Downhill after they get back down, you win I tell you what I told her," David said trying to get him into the race.

"No deal, your tires are shot, you wouldn't make it back up, much less down," Ryosuke said laughing at David's insulted reaction.

David knew Ryosuke was right, half way through the course the tires he had on the Chevelle were ready to shred themselves to pieces, but he hated having that pointed out to him in such a blunt manner.

Three days after the Project D race against the Timber Wolves where both Takumi and Keisuke lost, one to sheer power and luck and the other to pure last minute strategy, the news was still as active as the day after it had happened.

"So you asked me here to talk about something," Ryosuke said as he walked into David's garage to find him under the Chevelle.

"Yeah, let's go inside where it's a little cooler, I just finished up here anyway," David said sliding out from under the marina blue machine.

Once inside David washed his hands and got a cold soda out of his refrigerator and gave it to Ryosuke.

"Listen, the reason I asked you here is because you're drivers are fantastic and so are you, around the time I go back to the states there is a massive street racing tournament that my team and I take part in, it spans the race scene of three counties within the state," David paused to let that sink in, "I want you and Project D to bring Akari and your rides along with you to take part in this shindig too."

David didn't see any reaction to the proposal for about two minutes while Ryosuke sat and thought things over.

"Alright, let me talk to my team and we'll let you know," The brown haired man said standing up.

"Take your time you've got just over a year to let me know something," David said calmly as they walked to the front door. "Can I ask you one more favor? Take me down Akagi all out."

"Name when," Ryosuke replied as he climbed into the FC and drove away.

A few days later David sent Emily home with news of his defeat of Project D and an engagement ring that he knew would piss her father off to no end.

A month later David and the Chevelle faced off with Ryosuke and his FC at the top of Mt. Akagi's mountain pass.

"So this is what you want?" Ryosuke asked as they stood between his 1990 Mazda RX-7 and David's 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle.

"Yeah, no holding back, I loose I want it to be real," the blonde replied as he climbed into his marina blue machine.

Ryosuke passed his jacket on to Keisuke and climbed into the white FC. Both machines came to life with their own distinct growls, the Chevelle's loud and angry, while the FC was quieter and steady as Keisuke stepped between the two cars to start the count down.

"Five, Four, Three, Two, One... GO!" the spiky blonde haired man shouted over the roar of the engines.

The two machines flew down the first stretch, David taking the quick lead as they approached the first corner. The cars nearly parallel drifted through the corner. Ryosuke tried edging the Chevelle towards the outside, but was met with David's now famous fearless side as the Chevelle moved closer to the cars nose in order to block.

"Smart move," the brown haired man muttered as he fell behind the Chevelle again.

Through the first half of the course it was more parallel drifts and blocked pass attempts from Ryosuke, but when they hit the second half of the course David made an error and went too wide through the corner allowing Ryosuke to pass him easily.

"Crap, that was stupid, I should know better," The blonde man chastised himself as he moved the Chevelle's nose towards the FC's bumper.

Through the second half the race was neck and neck, David tried and failed several times to pass, but he would have to brake before he could get by.

"Damn, corners are too close for a power pass, looks like corners are my way in," David said as they came to the next hairpin.

The Chevelle flew into the corner chewing on the FC's tail lights before slipping to the inside and hooking the front right tire on the edge of the pavement letting the nose scrap against the guard rail.

"Damn it, that's another repaint," the blonde said as he once again took the lead of the race, "Now all I have to worry about is the last straight."

As they approached the finish the rear tires of the Chevelle lost traction, this time David managed to keep it off the guard rail but still lost a lot of speed which allowed the FC to pull along side of the marina blue machine. The race ended in a side by side finish that broke David's current downhill record.

"You know, I'm not sure what to make of a draw like this," David said climbing out of the 1970 Chevelle.

"Think of it as matching the reigning record holder," Ryosuke responded with a clam tone.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The year and a few months between Project D's defeat at the hands of a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle and the vivid blue FD that ran as its partner flew for the driver of the Chevelle. The blonde only accepted challenges that would take him outside of Akagi, and even though they never went hunting a challenge for the team they raced more on other people's courses then the Akagi RedSuns and Project D combined. Their last race took them back to the Nikko-Irohazaka course to take on the Emperors, where they swept the board with wins.

Emily came back to Japan to visit her fiancé and his racing partner every time she had a break from her classes during David's remaining time in the country and her father still hated him as far as he knew.

A 26 year old blonde standing 5'9" tall leaned against a bright orange Nissan S15 watching the Chevelle as it was loaded on to the ship that would take it, and the S15 he was leaning against home to the states.

"David, it's been a blast, and you've gotten better since the Project D race, Have you heard from Ryosuke about Project D going to the states to race yet?" a 21 year old brown haired girl asked leaning against a blue FD.

"He still has a few hours Akari, he may show yet, or call me and tell me they aren't coming one. What about you?" David asked calmly even though he was nervous about the situation.

"Yeah, the FD goes on after the S15, after that Mr. Yokama had his Mustang brought out here for you to take us to the air port," Akari paused hearing the sounds of the 86 engine, "How much is this costing you?" she asked even though she probably didn't want to know.

"The three cars are the easy part, Project D is paying their own way," David responded as four cars pulled up next to them.

The white FC belonging to Ryosuke Takahashi pulled up next to the S15, a black FD moved to one side of the blue FD while the yellow belonging to Keisuke Takahashi moved to the other. The 86 pulled into the space between the yellow FD and the S15.

"Good to see you all made it; Kyoko I wasn't expecting you here?" David said calmly even though he felt like jumping up and down like school boy.

"Didn't expect me to miss my darling race in a different country did you," Kyoko responded sweetly as she wrapped an arm around Keisuke making him blush a little.

The dock foreman walked over and got all the information from Project D that was needed, and began loading the S15. The group waited until all the cars were loaded on the ship before heading to the car and van that would take them to the airport.

Once they arrived they spotted Mr. Yokama and his wife along with Natsuki Mogi, who had a luggage bag sitting next to her.

"Don't worry about a thing, I got a call from one of your friends that said your tools and other personal affects arrived this morning David, the vans Project D sent are in one piece too and waiting at Jason's house," Mrs. Yokama said with a kind smile on her aging face, "Oh and before I forget Emily also called this morning, her father finally gets that you were after her and nothing else, and said that the wedding is planned and the date is set, she wouldn't tell me when though, I guess she didn't want me spilling the beans."

"I want to thank you for your hospitality while I've been here," David said hugging the wife of his boss, before shaking his boss' hand, "It's set for two days after we get there," he said laughing.

"Does Emily know about the relationship changes of late?" Akari asked as they walked through the concourse towards their plane.

"I haven't told her about Natsuki and Takumi getting back together if that's what you mean, she found out about Kyoko and Keisuke when she was here a few months ago because they came to dinner with us one night while she was here," David said with his trademark devilish grin.

"I meant have you told her that Mika and Takumi broke up after our battle with Project D," the brown haired young woman said with a slight chuckle.

"That I did tell her, mainly cause I don't know enough about what happened to explain it, Takumi and Natsuki will end up having to when they get their," The blonde answered with a chuckle while turning into one of the gift shops near their gate.

"Well the way Natsuki tells it Mika broke it off to go play golf in some other country, don't know which though," Akari said quietly as they browsed through the small store before the pair walked to the gate they would board their plane to America.

A few minutes later the entire Project D and Timber Wolves team were sitting in first class waiting on the plane to take off. David, Ryosuke and Akari slept through most of the flight and Keisuke played cards with Takumi and Fumihiro, while Tomiguchi and Matsumoto read up on the latest technology put into cars.

When the plane touched down at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport the group met with a familiar face waiting for them in the baggage claim area. The tall black haired man that had been knocked over during David's first race with the Chevelle in Japan met them at the baggage claim.

"Welcome to America," Jason said before grabbing Akari's bags for her and leading them to a fleet of race ready rides waiting in short term parking with their drivers standing next to them.

"Alright folks, pick the car you want to ride in, David your treasure awaits," Jason said as he gestured to a junky looking 1970 Ford Torino Cobra, "I tuned the engine before we left this morning so she's running perfect."

David just grinned as he tossed his bag in the back seat and turned to walk back to the other group.

"Jason lets introduce the drivers before we send them off with our guests," David said remembering that a few of the guests didn't speak English.

Each person picked someone to ride with while David sorted out who could and couldn't speak English.

"Ryosuke, you're riding with Matthew, the third fastest on the Timber Wolves, he's a little crazy so smack him if he gets out of hand," David laughed as the younger red head glared at him over the roof of his red FC.

Takumi and Natsuki stood next to a black and gold Mitsubishi Lan-Evo VIII waiting to be introduced to their driver, a fellow with silver hair and a friendly face.

"Takumi and Natsuki you will be riding with a fellow we just call Pops, he's the oldest driver we have and the fastest after me," David said in Japanese as he place a hand on the older man's shoulder.

Everyone else was introduced to the people they would ride with, and the group made their way out of the short stay parking area with the Torino leading the way Akari in its passenger seat. As the five cars made their way towards David's home Akari was asking all manner of questions about who they would be racing against. David was answering as best he could, but he was honest from the start that they wouldn't know till they got to that point.

When they arrived at the hotel where Project D and assorted guests would be staying for the duration of their stay, the drivers of each car carried the bags to the rooms, and David took Akari and her bags to her room.

"Nice place, I could get used to this," David heard Takumi say as he and Natsuki were let into their room.

After everyone was settled in at the hotel David allowed the drivers to leave for home, David took the Torino back into Charlotte to meet up with his wife to be for a long overdue date. When he arrived at the house where his future in-laws lived, he paid no mind to the fact his boss' cars were in the drive way and not the garage like normal.

"SURPRISE!" was heard clear through to the next town as David stepped into the house.

David simply fell to the floor and acted like he was dead just to get back at the people in the room, who included his parents and several of the men from the Timber Wolves that had not volunteered to help with getting Project D to the hotel.

"Geez, can't take a surprise welcome home, guess you're not getting married anymore Emily," her father laughed as he stepped over David who couldn't help but laugh along with him.

The next day David got the call to go pick up the cars at the docks, and his drivers met him at Project D's hotel.

"David, why are we driving them around, you can afford to get them rentals," Matthew asked with an agitated tone as they waited.

"Because they afforded me the same gesture while I stayed in Japan, so clamp that trap before I clamp it for you," David responded as calmly as he could even though he was hung over from the night before.

Once their guests were ready and out of the hotel the team of cars followed their leader to the docks with Emily in the passenger seat of the Torino and Akari in the back seat. After two hours of driving they arrived at the docks to see seven cars waiting for them and a dock worker with clipboards on the hood of each one.

"Sign these and you can drive them out of here, do you have enough people?" the dock man asked as the cars all parked.

"Yeah, I'm the only one who has three cars to worry about, the others are covered," David said before turning to the others, "Jason you take the Torino back Emily can take the S15, the rest of you can head out."

After everything was signed the dock worker watched as the 1970 Chevelle led three FDs, an FC, an 86, and an S15 out of the dock yard.

"That is a bunch of good looking cars," he said as he went back to work.

Once the cars all arrived back at the hotel David gathered Project D's members in the lobby to discuss what would be happening over the next few days, including his wedding the following day and the fact they were invited to the event.

The next day David and Emily's wedding went without a hitch, and the reception went well into the night with a few show offs smoking their tires off in the parking lot. After the celebrations were ended and the formalities dealt with, David gathered the Timber Wolves and Project D. Akari acted as a translator for the few people in Project D who didn't speak English.

"Alright the gathering of the year is just around the corner, and the Cleveland county teams are already gathering and so are the Lincoln teams, as far as I can tell there are thirty teams taking part in this year's tournament of counties," David paused to take a breath and let Akari catch up, "That means over a hundred cars are going to be running the course this year, I know that all of you from here have been practicing, we need to get the folks from Japan familiar with the course and we only have two days, the start line is in our county this year and the finish is in Cleveland after running through Lincoln county."

After the discussion about the course, David along with Project D were led through the course by Jason, who had driven the new layout several times in the two weeks since the map was given to the teams who would take part in the tournament.

The course was a long one that followed some of the toughest public roads in each county. The cops knew all about this tournament and blocked the roads for a few days before the event each year, and a few, while off duty, even took part in it. David noticed how the members of Project D would back off the throttle each time they passed a police car not realizing they didn't care.

When the small fleet of cars crossed the finish line in Cleveland county Jason found a place to pull off so the drivers could stretch their legs.

"David, we passed a ton of police cars out there why didn't you guys slow down?" Fumihiro asked as he climbed out of the passenger seat of Ryosuke's FC.

"No reason to, this tournament of ours may not be totally legal, but the police know it brings in a ton of money so they tend to help us out for the sake of the businesses around here," Jason replied with a slight chuckle, "I even know a few officers that will be participating this year with the Timber Wolves and a few of the other teams as well."

"David, have we met your whole team?" Takumi asked in English, shocking David a little.

"Not yet, you've met just under half the team, but the ones you have met are the members that do most of the racing for the team," David replied after recovering.

The group spent another ten minutes in the pull off area discussing the rules of the tournament, and just how many people would actually race in it. Natsuki was the only one who didn't have a car to drive so she voted herself the navigator for Takumi in the 86; she had fun the time Takumi drove down Akagi in their sempai's car so she figured it would be even more fun to run a totally unfamiliar course with Takumi.

"Alright so everyone but Ryosuke and the mechanics are racing right?" Jason asked so he could tell the people running the tournament how many were entering.

"That leaves Takumi, Akari, Keisuke and Kyoko, three FDs and the Trueno for Project D" David supplied as Jason wrote things down, "And for the Timber Wolves replace the Chevelle with the Torino, and add Emily in the Silva S15."

Ryosuke made a gesture to the blonde American that only David and Keisuke saw. Once the two men were just out of ear shot of the rest of the group Ryosuke asked the question that had been on his mind since David grinned at the air port when Jason had pointed to the car.

"David, what is it about that Torino that makes it so special?" the brown haired man asked with an even tone.

"It's not so much what's under the hood like the Chevelle, but what you can do in it that you can't do in the Chevelle," David responded before walking away leaving his answer as cryptic as Ryosuke always left his.

After the group split up Jason lead the group back to the hotel while David and Emily went to their home.

"David, why don't you paint that ugly thing?" Emily asked staring at the rusty looking 1970 Torino sitting in the two car garage with the Chevelle.

"Cause I haven't had time, still don't seeing as the tournament starts tomorrow night," David replied before picking Emily up and carrying her into the house.

The next day flew by for everyone, as Jason made his way to the meeting place and starting point of every race that would take place over the next three days, with Project D's cars and vans close behind his scorch red 1970 Plymouth GTX he noticed that there were a lot of people watching from the sidelines of the course.

Once they made it to the spots reserved for them Jason left Project D to their own routine and headed for his place in the Timber Wolves line up.

"David, there are a ton of big talkers here this year," the black haired man said as he climbed out of the GTX.

"I noticed, most of them have been shooting their mouths off all night, and its only 9 o'clock," the blonde replied as he watched the crowd.

"Alright, let me have your attention here for a few minutes," A voice yelled out through a bull horn.

David looked over and noticed the guy with the horn was standing on the roof of a pretty competitive car from Lincoln County.

"The races start at ten, its open challenge, the only limit we ask is that we keep the races to three cars each so we can at least keep some safety to this thing, so find your selves some opponents so we can start on time," the man shouted before jumping off the car's roof.

At about five minutes to ten the Timber Wolves were the main opponent for the evening, and Project D was a close second because of what they brought with them.

"Alright first race will be a three way race between the Timber Wolves 1970 Plymouth GTX against the Devils 05 Mustang and the Riders 1998 Celica," the man called out from the start line as the three cars lined up.

The three cars launched off the line side by side before the GTX and Mustang left the Celica behind. The Jason's Plymouth flew through the first corner without braking at all while the mustang driver slowed down too much.

David started listening to the reports from the major turns that would lead the three drivers into the next county and was enjoying the fact Jason had yet again managed to shock and awe the mustang by not braking at all.

"David is he really clearing those corners without braking," Emily asked as the three entered one of the hardest parts in the early stage of the course.

"Probably, he knows the roads around here very well, and what's more important is he knows the car," David replied still listening to the radio calls.

Ryosuke was not showing it but he was impressed to hear that one of the Timber Wolves was going through hard curve after hard curve without using his brakes. He was also surprised at how quiet the man's team was as they listened on.

Keisuke had wandered away to check out the local rides with Kyoko hanging onto his arm. They were getting to know the Timber Wolves that they hadn't met before the event gathering when someone walked over and leaned on the rusted Torino's hood.

"Hey man, no need to lean on the cars, especially without the owner's permission," Keisuke said in perfect English, hopping he sounded polite about it.

"Oh I am the owner of this ride so back off," the guy said with an arrogant tone, "Say pretty thing, why don't you come hang out with a real man instead of a pretty boy like him," he said switching his attention to Kyoko.

"Hey jerk off, get off my car," David said rather loudly before Keisuke from lost his cool.

"This is my ride small fry, so step off," the man said with an agitated tone pushing David back with a long arm.

Ryosuke and Keisuke both saw the members of the Timber Wolves flinch before David waved his hand. They were both shocked to see how these men worked together even off the race course. The man standing in the middle of it all saw nothing of the Timber Wolves team getting ready to pound him into the ground.

"If that is truly your car, without look at it, what is the plate number?" David asked with absolute calm.

The man stammered and stuttered making it look like he was trying to figure it out, and he was getting no help from anyone.

"No one can do that, even if they own the car," the man shouted as he walked to the back of the car.

"NBR dash 1708," David said with a slight chuckle at the man's shocked face, "This is my Torino big guy, and I'll have you know there is more to that car then you will ever know."

The entire Timber Wolves team, Keisuke and Kyoko burst into all out laughter as the man grew more and more enraged.

"Hey small fry, you and me on the course next," the man shouted as David walked away.

"Don't hold back, because I won't," David said climbing into the rusted Torino.

The two cars met on the line, the rusted Torino and a Toyota Supra.

"This is the second heat for the night, the leader of the Timber Wolves in a 1970 Torino Cobra, and the leader of one of our unnamed teams," The announcer called out as the Torino's Super Cobra Jet engine roared through the custom built exhaust hidden within the shell.

The two cars took off the Torino's front wheels lifting slightly off the ground, before walking away from the Supra, and just as Jason did before him he began clearing each of the major corners in this part of the course without braking.

Ryosuke was the first to notice something about the Torino. Keisuke was the first to speak up about what the two men had seen while Takumi was content to listen to the floating theories until someone from the Timber Wolves would answer them.

"Takumi, your racing next we modified the 86 a little for flatter courses and the horsepower was raised just a little so you shouldn't fall too far behind on the hills," Matsumoto called out from the 86.

Takumi climbed behind the wheel of his beloved 86 and Natsuki climbed into the passenger seat.

Just before Takumi lined up he noticed Jason's GTX pulling back into the lot, the older man looked very pleased with himself.

"He must have won," Natsuki said as she fastened her seat belt. Takumi only nodded as he started towards the line to meet his opponent, an older model car he didn't recognize.

Ryosuke recognized the model of car from a picture he'd seen while researching the Chevelle after he first met David.

"Takumi, don't chase this car," Ryosuke said leaning against the door frame of the 86, getting a nod from Takumi.

"What does that mean?" Natsuki asked since it was her first official race with Takumi.

"I want him to chase David's Chevelle like he did on Usui pass, David would certainly be faster, so if he chases the Chevelle you two should win with ease," Ryosuke said with a small chuckle.

Just as Ryosuke came away from Takumi's 86 the rusty Torino pulled into the lot and parked in the same spot it left from.

"David, how did you get this thing to corner like that," Keisuke asked as his brother and other members of project D came over.

David explained that the Chevelle may have been the one he took to Japan but the Torino was by far the more track worthy of the pair. He spent more time and money in the suspension of the Torino before he did the motor, unlike the Chevelle where everything went to the motor rather than the suspension.

"The Chevelle is what we call a track ready show car, yeah you can drive it fast but its primary use is getting trophies at car shows. I started to build the Torino just after finishing the Chevelle, but I'm still waiting to sand and paint everything," David explained as they all walked around the cars of his team mates.

At midnight the races stopped for the police shift change in Cleveland and Gaston Counties, the change out in Lincoln County was before the races even started. They resumed at one o'clock in the morning to end for the night at four in the morning. The first night of the event went without a single loss for either Project D or the Timber Wolves. Project D returned to their hotel with Jason leading them, and the rest of the Timber Wolves stayed at the gathering sight.

"David can we race them, even Matthew over here can see the aura coming off Takumi and Keisuke, Ryosuke's is even bigger, we know they're good but if you beat them doesn't that mean we stand a chance?" the gray haired man known as Pops asked as they gathered around him and Emily.

"No Timber Wolf goes after Project D, they are my guests here," David said loud enough for them all to hear, "Pops, not even you could touch those guys on this course, we may know it better but they would still win, it's what they were used to doing."

The blonde man spent the rest of the evening explaining his race against Takumi and the 86, while the others simply listened and Emily added smaller details from the course side reports that she remembered


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The morning after the event's official start David got a call and headed into Charlotte before Emily could get ready to go with him. Emily spent several hours trying to get a hold of him before calling Akari.

"Akari is everyone there?" the blonde asked hoping to hear David was with them.

"Yeah, me, Natsuki and Kyoko were getting ready to call Jason so he can take us out to the mall, do you want to instead," Akari's voice asked through the phone not hearing the concern in Emily's tone.

"Yeah, sure it'll get my mind off a few things," Emily said before hanging up and driving out to the hotel in the sedan her father had bought for her as a wedding gift.

When the four women got to the mall closest to the hotel, they ate lunch and talked about the night before and how much fun Natsuki had in Takumi's 86, before she moved her hand under the table and took of her glove.

"Natsuki, when did he propose?" Akari asked excitedly noticing the ring on the girl's hand.

"Last night just after starting the race, took his hands off the wheel and everything," Natsuki replied brandishing the ringed hand in front of the other girls.

Natsuki and Kyoko were too busy trying to figure out how to get Keisuke to propose that they didn't notice when Emily got up and walked away from the table with Akari close behind her.

"Emily, you're the married one here, what's on your mind?" Akari said in her usual calm tone.

"David got a call this morning at five o'clock, he didn't tell me anything about it, and I can't get him on the phone since then," Emily said letting the worry take over for the moment.

"Oh, is that all, he did that to me several times on days before races, or even in the middle of practice and I wouldn't hear from him until the race, even when I showed up at the house, but he always showed up on time for the races, and he was always in one piece," Akari said with a chuckle.

"But you weren't married to him, I am and I think I should know about this kind of thing," Emily finally broke down and started crying.

"You're right, I'm not married to him, but I still get to worry about him, I did watch him do some crazy stuff with a car twice the size of mine for two years you know," Akari said trying to comfort her racing partner's wife.

After about ten minutes Emily was able to pull herself together and the two ladies returned to the table where Natsuki and Kyoko were still talking about wedding details.

"Emily, how did David propose to you?" Natsuki asked when she saw the two ladies sit back down.

"During a romantic evening in Tokyo, just after dinner we were about to get in the car and he 'accidentally' dropped the keys, when I thought he was giving me the keys he had pulled out a ring," Emily laughed as she twisted the diamond ring on her finger with a gold wedding band.

The ladies enjoyed a few hours at the mall before Emily decided to take them sightseeing before returning to the hotel where Project D was staying.

"Oh boys, will you give us a hand?" Akari said as she walked into the lobby with Natsuki and Kyoko behind her.

Fumihiro, Takumi and Tomiguchi went without question to take some of their many bags. Keisuke took a little nudge from Matsumoto to go and help. Once the bags were unloaded and everyone was going to the different rooms Emily and Ryosuke stayed in the lobby.

"Ryosuke did you call David this morning?" the blonde asked before sitting down across from him.

"No, I haven't spoken to him since last night, but I have tried to call, his phone was off," Ryosuke responded.

"Alright, do you guys think you can find your way to the gathering spot tonight or should I have Jason come out?" Emily asked trying to get away from the subject that was worrying her.

"Have Jason on standby, just in case we get lost, otherwise we'll try and make our own way," Ryosuke said as usual noticing the worried look on Emily's face, but chose not to say anything.

_'David, I don't know what you're up to but you better be there tonight cause I'm taking you on,'_ Ryosuke thought as he watched the sedan drive away with Emily at the wheel.

About an hour after the sedan left the hotel Ryosuke and Project D were getting ready to head to the gathering spot for the races when the well known marina blue Chevelle pulled into the lot.

"Ryosuke sorry for missing your call this morning, what did you want to ask me about?" David asked as he walked over to the white FC.

"I'll tell you out there, you need to go talk to Emily about what happened this morning," Ryosuke said rather coldly as he climbed into the FC.

David was shocked at his tone, so much so that he didn't even move when the FC nearly ran him over. When he heard the three other rotary engines fire up along with the 86 he jumped into the Chevelle and flew towards his home, passing Ryosuke on the way to the interstate.

When he pulled in the drive at his home David was thankful that the S15 and the Sedan were there with the Torino.

_'Okay, all the cars are here,'_ David thought as he walked up the front steps with keys in hand.

About a half a second before putting key to lock the tall blonde stopped and reached up and rang the door bell instead. He heard footsteps inside the house; they were heavy and very fast causing him to laugh just a little.

The door flew open and Emily jumped into his arms nearly knocking him off the porch entirely.

"Where were you?" the shorter blonde asked with a hint of anger laced into the worry in her tone.

"Just handling a small surprise for Takumi and Natsuki, when I spoke with Takumi last night after the race I made a few phone calls, someone will be meeting us at the course tonight, I needed to find him a car he would be familiar with, that's all it was honey," David laughed as he started down the steps, "Will you ride with me tonight, or is Keisuke going to kill me on his brother's order?"

"I'll ride, we've only been married two days, how would it look if you went and died on me," Emily chuckled as she climbed into the Torino's passenger seat.

"Pretty good to your father," David joked as he started the Torino and pulled out of the driveway.

Once the two arrived at the gathering spot they noticed a black 1998 Subaru Impreza WRX sitting with the Timber Wolves cars. David parked next to it and climbed out of the Torino.

"So this is what you had in mind, bring me out to a kiddy race," a gruff voice said in Japanese from the other side of the Impreza.

"Mr. Fujiwara the only reason I asked you here was to see Takumi race, he has a challenge laid over from last night and his fiancé asked me to get you here to see it, I'm just a middle man," David answered scratching the back of his head.

"Fiancé huh, and who is that?" the gray haired man asked.

"Bunta-san, it's nice to see you again," Natsuki called from a few feet away.

"Natsuki, did Takumi see you come over here?" David asked while moving to block Takumi's view.

"No, he's setting the car up for the race right now."

"Alright then, Fujiwara-san you can ride with me on the course, wouldn't want you getting excited and interrupting, Natsuki will be riding with Takumi."

Natsuki walked away from the two older men to join her husband to be while David showed Bunta the long course on a map that one of his teammates always carried.

"This is a long course, easy to get bored on," Bunta said as he looked at the map.

"Not so much actually, there are more natural curves in this course that the maps don't show, in a few areas it's a lot like the mountains in Japan," Jason replied not giving David the chance.

"Not mention the fact that the last quarter of the course has no lighting at all." David said with a slight glare in the direction of his black haired friend.

A short time later three cars lined up at the starting point of a nearly thirty mile course that wound its way through three counties the Torino falling in behind the other two instead of next to.

"This is a race between Project D's Toyota Trueno and the Riders 350Z, and in the observers position the Timber Wolves 1970 Torino," the announcer called out before starting the countdown.

The three cars took off together, the Z33 burning a little rubber while the 86 simply took off. The Torino waited a second after the go to take off, smoke bellowing of its tires. David did his best to keep his foot off the throttle in order to stay behind the race after showing off a little.

"Having a hard time not being in it?" Bunta asked from the passenger seat.

"Nope, just can't figure out who this guy is after, me or Takumi," David said with a laugh as he took one hand off the wheel to scratch his ear.

Bunta never flinched no matter what idiot thing David did, he just continued to stare out the windshield at the 86, watching every small movement in the car. Soon enough the Nissan 350Z gave David no choice but to pass it by. The driver of the car lost control for a split second and lost a lot of speed because of it, but once he was back in control he couldn't even see the 86 or the Torino.

"So who's the brat racing now?" Bunta asked as David picked up the pace a few notches.

"Probably my Chevelle, he's been chasing that car ever since he lost to me on Usui pass just over a year ago," David laughed, even though he should have been concentrating.

"So that's why when he drives the Subaru the tires come back nearly shredded, he's got another car to chase down the mountain."

"Probably, but I doubt that, when we met on Akina during his morning runs I was driving a borrowed Z33 like the one he was racing tonight, he wouldn't have any reference points to use since that was the only time I drove Akina seriously with him around."

"He's smarter then he lets on, if he's seen you race in such a complex course as Usui he knows exactly what your car would do and when, when he's in the 86 the tires come back with even wear on them, because he knows where he can improve his times, and how from driving the Impreza," Bunta replied before casually grabbing the handle over the door.

David down shifted and let the tail of the heavy Torino slid effortlessly through a tight left handed corner followed by a fast right hander.

Back at the start line the Timber Wolves were wondering just what was happening on the course. David told them he wasn't in the race officially yet he was running right behind Takumi and the Z33 had completely dropped out of the race and pulled over, yet Takumi and David were still going full speed through the course.

"Aniki, why do you think they haven't stopped?" Keisuke asked as they stood waiting.

"I think Takumi is still chasing the Chevelle, or perhaps even running away from it by this time," Ryosuke responded calmly.

The Timber Wolves were wondering the same thing as Project D, with David claiming observation only, the race should have stopped, but it was just picking up the pace with every corner the police were blocking. They even had a report from one of the police officers along the course that the speeds were exceeding 130 miles per hour.

"David, I don't know what's in your head right now, but please come back in one piece," Emily said quietly to herself.

Jason and the man called Pops heard what she said and took up places on either side of her just in case something went bad. David made the two men promise to take care of her while he was in Japan, and now they would continue the promise.

On the course David was dead quiet but had finally figured out Takumi's rhythm and had made it his own and was keeping up with the 86 in front of him.

"And now we see his true strength," David commented as he watched the 86.

The 86's tail lights disappeared into the darkness as they entered the area where the street wasn't lit. David followed him as closely as he possibly could to make sure he didn't lose sight of the 86 entirely. Bunta still seemed calm as ever in the passenger seat.

"How many times has he been on this course while driving?" Bunta asked out of nowhere.

"Five races last night, and one touring run are all I know about, but it could be more," David replied.

David calmed down enough to start doing what he did best, and what he was known for, driving entirely on reflex.

"So Bunta-san, what do you think of your son's abilities so far?" David asked as he kept the 86 firmly in the Torino's head lights.

"He's getting better, but he has a long way to go yet," the older man replied as they continued on the course.

David followed the 86 all the way across the finish line, to keep his observation clean he lost.

"Why didn't you two stop running when the 350 dropped out?" an official asked as the two men stepped out of the cars.

Takumi went to answer, but David waved him off discretely.

"We didn't know he had dropped out, I was forced to pass him when he lost control, and no one called me to tell me he had," David said with a calm tone.

"Then why did you continue to up the pace?"

"Isn't that the way to win a race, pick up the pace till the other guy can't follow anymore?"

"You managed to follow him."

"I only managed that because I've raced with him before I know what he can do, and I had a car that could do half the work for me."

The argument continued with Takumi never noticing his father still sitting in David's passenger seat. The tournament official finally gave up after five minutes of David's passive statements and answering questions with more questions and declared Takumi the official winner of the race and David's observation status as clean.

The driver's and their passengers made their way back to the start line using roads not used by the course because usually when the first race reached the halfway marker, they would start the next race in line.

"So why defend the brat?" Bunta asked as they pulled back into the gathering point at the start line.

"Because I've seen what the kid can do when he's mad, I mean he did keep up with a 700 horsepower car on Usui's downhill in that 86," David responded as he parked the Torino.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Bunta walked over to his son after the race, to tell him he was headed back to Japan early the next morning, and that the kid still had to do the deliveries when he got back engaged or not. Takumi looked totally freaked out, and a little pissed at his father for being so blunt in such a large crowd but he nodded anyway.

David stood across the lot and watched it all go down with a small laugh at poor Takumi's face as he watched Bunta embarrass the kid.

"Bunta-san, can you find your way to the hotel, or should I have someone take you sir?" the blonde asked as he watched the graying man come closer to the GC8.

"Better have someone lead me, I like driving too much to be driven around," the man said while lighting a cigarette.

"Yes sir, Pops would you mind leading Mr. Fujiwara to the hotel where Project D is staying, and make sure he has everything he needs," David said in English. He had no trouble at all switching between languages these days; he'd gotten quite used to it with the company he worked with.

The man known as Pops jumped into his black and gold Lan-Evo VIII before leading the black GC8 out of the lot, both cars laying down rubber before taking off at speeds way over the legal limit.

"Those two never grew up did they?" Keisuke asked with a laugh when David walked over to Project D.

"No," both Takumi and David answered at the same time.

Ryosuke chuckled quietly thinking about just how well the two younger men seemed to get along.

"Ryosuke, you said you wanted to talk to me about something, shall we have that discussion now?" David asked making everyone within earshot to go silent.

Ryosuke simply walked towards the driver's door of the FC and climbed into the well kept machine, before firing the engine and driving into the line of cars waiting to race. David flew back across the parking area and jumped into the Torino, and before anyone could ask what was happening he was in line next to the FC.

"This just turned into the event of the show," Jason told Emily while pointing out how many people were watching the two cars.

Once they got to the line David spoke to one of the announcer before walking back to the car and shaking hands with Ryosuke and climbing back into the Torino.

"Alright folks, this is a race of two leading members, Project D's 90 RX-7 and the Timber Wolves 70 Torino, the drivers requested a clear course so we're waiting till the course is clear before the race starts and until after it's over, so kill your engines and enjoy," the announcer called through his bull horn, and immediately the waiting line of cars started cutting off their engines or moving out of the line to park before shutting them off.

Reports started coming in as the last racers on the course made their way through the last section of the course so Ryosuke and David started their engines.

"Damn, I'm nervous again," David said as someone stepped between the two cars.

The race started in a wall of smoke bellowing off the Torino's tires before the car took off and easily caught the FC that had walked into the lead spot off the line after David's mistake. The Torino flew passed the FC before the first natural corner of the course, and once again without braking David threaded a needle with the Torino.

"Oops, I shouldn't have passed him like that," David said watching as the FC took a firm hold of the Torino's bumper through the corners.

Ryosuke copied every move David made through the corners, so that even though David had the horsepower advantage he could not get away from him. The brown haired man was actually starting to enjoy this race already. The two men flew through curve after curve, picking places to show off the drifting prowess they both had, one specializing in trained technique the other in controlling the power to make the car drift.

"Damn, he had to have been practicing lately, this is getting scary," David muttered as he snuck a peak at the gauges where he saw the speedometer had reached the 125 mile an hour mark. He didn't know if they were going faster or not, and to be honest with himself, he didn't want to know.

Ryosuke noticed a slight shift in the Torino's speed that was only momentary, they were on a straight stretch of the road, and his needle on his speedometer had pinned itself to the stop long before. He then spotted a set of police lights flashing in front of them.

David spotted the police lights and slammed hard on the brakes while pulling to the other side of the road and swinging the tail out of the way, noticing at the same time Ryosuke was following his lead.

"Shit, that could have been nasty," David muttered as he floored the pedal and watched the speedometer fly through the numbers once again.

The two men were so far into the course, that when the report came that they had passed a police car in full drift, people were stunned at how fast they were going since they had passed the halfway mark and were well on their way to the three quarter marker in what would be a twenty minute drive even at normal racing speeds.

"These guys are fast," Emily heard someone say as she walked across the lot to Project D.

"Akari, what do you think, will either of them walk away from this?" Emily asked quietly leaning on the blue FD's hood.

"I'm sure they both will, Ryosuke may not show it like David does, but I think they're both crazy," Akari laughed as she sat down next to Emily.

The two cars entered the section of road where the lights were out, and the Torino vanished into the darkness from in front of the FC.

_'You won't fool me that way, not with that exhaust as loud as it is,' _Ryosuke thought as he pushed the accelerator a little bit harder.

_'Ryosuke I know you aren't fooled by me driving with my headlights off, but I have something a little more crazy in mind,'_ David thought as he too shoved his foot a little further down as the two cars continued through the curving roads.

A few moments later the headlights of the Torino came back on illuminating the back bumper of the white FC that had unknowingly slipped by the Torino mid corner.

"What the hell, the Torino fell behind somewhere," a man shouted across the gathering area and starting point.

"I don't believe it, David lost," Emily said so quietly that Akari barely heard her.

"It's not over yet, I think I know what he has in mind, David flew passed the FC once it came off the line, the blacked out section of the course was the only place to let Ryosuke pass while still keeping the pace, I think David wants to prove he can pass without using the power of the Torino's engine," Akari explained calmly.

What Emily didn't know at the time was that Akari was just guessing, and that she was right either way. David let the FC go by him so he could win this with a clean pass.

"Ryosuke, now we race," David muttered as he glued the Torino to the FC's rear bumper.

Both cars pinned the speedometers as they flew through one of the shortest straights in the course. David and Ryosuke drifted through a long right hand corner that swapped into a longer left handed one. At the switching point the Torino leveled with the FC on the inside of the left hander. Ryosuke saw what was coming and boxed the Torino in with a blocking drift. David switched styles and flew into another parallel drift with the FC.

"These two guys aren't racing anymore they're showing off, sliding through corners side by side," someone shouted with a tone that no one from Project D or the Timber Wolves liked.

David was beginning to regret letting the FC ahead, because every chance he could take was being blocked when he tried to take it. As they came closer to the finish line the 26 year old blonde knew what he had to do and where.

"I'm going to hate this," David said as he down shifted the Torino and let the car go to an outside line of a right handed corner and leveled again with the FC.

The two came closer to a blocked right handed corner, and David turned that corner into a game of chicken to see who would brake first and lose the lead. Both men knew what would happen if one didn't back down, but neither wanted to. Then out of what seemed like nowhere David slammed hard on the brakes and slid behind the FC to the inside line and managed to get out the corner just a head of it. Ryosuke fell in line behind the Torino and followed until the last stretch, where they crossed the finish line level with each other just like the race down Akagi nearly a year before.

"What the hell do we do now, you two crossed the line too close together to determine a winner," one of the officials of the event said as the two men got out of their cars.

"I call it a draw, I'm exhausted both mentally and physically," David said with a wide smile.

"Same here, that was a hard fought battle and I haven't the energy to do it again," Ryosuke said showing a pleased smile.

David spent a few minutes finding a few of the checkpoint speeds and their final time before walking back to Ryosuke's car where the man was waiting.

"Looks like we broke the course record, and all of the speed records set during this year's event, it's probably a good thing my needle stops at 125 miles an hour, otherwise I would have been afraid when we actually hit 150 during this run," David said kneeling next to the driver's door.

"That is pretty fast, but I must admit, this race has given me a reason to at least think about coming out of retirement, perhaps go back to gymkhana, or perhaps a school like Todo Juke, who knows, my residency is over and Keisuke has accepted an offer from a pro rally team, that will teach him more than I can," Ryosuke replied with a quiet laugh.

"That's great about you and Keisuke, but what about Takumi-kun?" David said swapping to Japanese to keep prying ears out of the conversation.

"Takumi has several offers, same as Keisuke, but he has yet to make up his mind on which one to take, his friends at the gas station are trying to talk him into GT300," Ryosuke replied also in Japanese after spotting the gathering crowds, "Let's get back before they start wondering who killed who after the race."

David was so stunned by what he heard that he had gotten into and started the Torino on autopilot, Ryosuke had just made a joke and laughed, two things David had never witnessed before.

When the two men arrived back at the gathering point the sound of loud cheering was heard over everything else, including the two cars that took off from the start line. They parked the two cars side by side at the back of the lot and before they could get out of the cars they were swarmed by the crowds. Keisuke cleared a path through the people with Emily and Akari close behind him.

Emily jumped into David's chest as soon as she made it around Keisuke.

"So no one got killed, sounded like a hell of a race," the spiked blonde said as he stood in front of the two older men.

"It was, even made me think of teaching racing techniques like the Todo Juke School," Ryosuke said staring his brother in the eye.

"And I may go into the pro rally just so I can race Keisuke," David said with as straight a face as Ryosuke.

The two blondes stared each other down before Keisuke laughed and turned on his heels, walking away from the mob that still surrounded the rusted Torino and the FC. Ryosuke and David watched as the crowds diminished from around their cars to continue having fun.

"David, just what is under the hood of this rusty old junk heap?" Akari asked without thinking twice. "I mean you guys were way over the normal track speeds."

"This one is all in the suspension set up, the motor is nothing more than a rebuilt factory motor with a new intake, re-tuned carburetor and a few other nitpicky things here and there," David responded with a chuckle at Akari's stunned appearance.

"You mean to tell me that this car has LESS power than the Chevelle?" Akari asked still looking confused.

"That's right, the Chevelle puts 790 horse power and 695 ft-lbs of torque to the ground when I had the supercharger on her, this Torino only puts 480 horsepower and 500 ft-lbs of torque to the ground, the suspension underneath is entirely modern, where the Chevelle's is almost as it was when it came off the factory line in 1970 just built with more modern technology."

Ryosuke was listening to David's explanation when he saw the red haired man introduced as Matthew walking towards the Project D team spaces.

"David, we need to hear what Matthew wants," the brown haired man said walking towards his teammates.

The two men and two women got to the Project D 'pit area' right before Matthew did. The young man walked straight up to Takumi and looked the man straight in the face.

"Takumi Fujiwara I'm challenging you and your 86," the red head said loud enough for the whole team to hear. "Just you and me on a clear course buddy."

"Takumi, let me take care of him," David said grabbing Matthew by his ear and dragging him off.

Takumi and the rest of Project D and their three guests watched on as David dragged Matthew out into the middle of one of the fields behind the large parking area and chew him out.

"Matthew I told you flat out that no Timber Wolf goes after them, and you just went against me while I was standing right there with you," David shouted down at the younger man, "I know you want to race but let it be by someone else taking you on, you can't beat him," he finished in a slightly lower tone.

"That's not true, my FC has more power than Pops' Lan-Evo," Matthew shot back the anger clear in his voice.

"Yeah it does, but against him that won't make a bit of difference, and I'll tell you this because I know you respect what this team is, I have lost to that kid," David said calmly as he turned his back on Matthew, "Kid if you want your butt handed to you on a platter, go right ahead and race him."

David thought for a split second too long when he heard the sound of hurried footsteps heading back towards the parking lot. He ran after the young red head reaching him only after he had confirmed his challenge with Takumi and was walking back to his FC.

"Takumi, I ask one favor of you," David said through the driver's window of the 86, "Leave him sucking on dust and exhaust from the start, he could use a touch of humility."

The blonde walked away from the car towards the announcer for the races.

"Hey, Tom need a favor from you big guy," David said when he got to the older man who was still on top of his car.

"Anything for you and the Timber Wolves, you are the hosts after all," the graying man said crouching on the roof of his car.

"Clear the way, and set up the channels, I want to know when Matthew gets left if it doesn't happen at the line."

"Done."

David walked away from the car as the man started shouting out orders and getting things ready for what would probably be the shortest race of the entire event as the two cars met on the line.

"Remember your instructions Takumi," Natsuki said from the passenger seat of the panda Trueno.

Takumi just laughed a little as the signal to ready the cars was given. The rotary engine of the FC carried a loud exhaust tone compared to the 86's low growl.

"David, can Matthew's exhaust get any louder?" Jason asked with a load of sarcasm in his tone.

Before David could answer the 86 took off with the FC right on its back right quarter panel. The FC quickly leveled with the 86 before slowly powering ahead and sliding into the lead. The 86 stuck to the backside of the FC till the first corner as if the two cars were glued together.

"Now the fun begins, Matthew knows how to handle the new power when moving forward, but now we see if he can stop it," Pops said as he climbed out of his Lan-Evo.

"You're right as usual Mac ole buddy," David said with a steady tone.

David had been right to tell Takumi what he had, Matthew was an aggressive driver, but the horsepower rating of the FC was upped for this event only three days before it, the kid was still learning the new abilities and limits the bright red machine had.

Takumi noticed the brake lights come on either too late or too early as they cleared a few of the natural curves in the road, and he also noticed that the FC was not being pushed as hard as Ryosuke did with his.

"Natsuki, hang on to something, this might get a little more rough than usual," Takumi said with total calm.

Natsuki grabbed the door and handle on the door frame, Takumi down shifted a gear and walked past the bright FC it had been chasing in the first corner they came to. The 86 and its two passengers then began clearing corners as fast as they could. Takumi could hear Natsuki start laughing like a mad woman and he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"David, he got passed somewhere between the first and second blocked corners, Takumi is already five seconds ahead," Jason said after hearing the last report.

David just grinned and walked over to the Project D side of the lot. While he walked he heard a lot of people talking about the Timber Wolves third fastest man losing his mind to race against the 86, or that something was wrong with the FC.

"David, which is it?" He heard someone ask as he walked by one of the conversations.

"It's both, the driver of the FC is out of his mind, and the FC isn't tuned to his liking yet," the blonde responded while continuing to walk.

Ryosuke heard what David had said, and to him it made no sense at all to say the FC wasn't tuned properly, but he chose to ignore it until David brought it up himself.

"You're wondering why I told them that aren't you Ryosuke?" the blonde said almost reading the man's mind, "It's because that's the truth, Matthew tuned the car the day before we got back, then had no time to practice with it, the suspension is all wrong and now he knows it."

"You really did try to talk him out of it when you dragged him off didn't you?" Keisuke asked leaning on the black FD's fender.

David only nodded as the report that the FC had officially dropped out of the race with a nearly twelve second gap between him and the 86 came through one of the radios nearby.

"Hey Ryosuke, it's only the second day of this event, want your first student?" David asked with a laugh.

"Sure, why not," Ryosuke laughed causing nearly the entire Project D team to fall in shock.

David and Ryosuke both noticed the reaction and just laughed harder.

The bright red FC pulled into the lot and parked in its place, David and Ryosuke walked over as the red headed driver climbed out of the car. David snatched the keys before Matthew could stuff them in his pocket.

"Ryosuke, you take it for a spin if you like, you should know the car you'll be teaching in," David said with a serious tone that left no room for Matthew to argue.

David threw the keys over his shoulder to Ryosuke who just caught them and walked to the driver's door on the left side of the car. As the brown haired man climbed into his car, Matthew looked like he was about to blow his lid.

"David, why are you letting him drive my car?" the red head asked through gritted teeth.

"So he can teach you how to drive it, he drives one himself after all," David said with total calm even though he knew the red headed kid wanted to pound him into the pavement beneath their feet.

When Ryosuke returned to the parking area Matthew nearly ran over three people and a car getting to him. David had to grab his collar to keep him from running over Ryosuke as he climbed out of the driver's seat.

"So how was it?" Emily asked as David continued holding Matthew back.

"It's a pretty powerful machine, but the brakes and suspension need some minor work," The taller brown haired man replied.

David and Emily both chuckled when the angry look on their red headed friend's face turned to a happy grin. The four of them spent the rest of the evening talking about what to adjust on the car and just how the red FC would handle after the fact.

The next morning David got a call from Matthew, telling him he wouldn't be at the races that evening because the FC was being worked on, so David made the call withdrawing the FC from any further races before heading to his parent's house with his wife.

"Well how is everything going?" David's mom asked after hugging the two of them.

"Not too bad, I think our guests from Japan are enjoying things over here," David said as they sat down at the table for breakfast.

"And how is Mac doing?" David's father asked as the four of them sat down.

"Pops is fine, getting a bit faster even in his old age," David said with a laugh.

The catching up on familial events went on till lunch when David got a call that forced them away from his family.

When they arrived at the hotel where Project D was staying they saw a massive dent and a few gnarly scratches in the quarter panel on the driver's side of Akari's FD where the Timber Wolves sticker was as wrinkled and torn up as the panel itself as well as a broken tail light.

"Geez, who did this?" Emily asked worriedly as Ryosuke and a positively furious Akari came out of the hotel.

"We're not sure, the hotel is looking at the tapes for the camera now," Ryosuke replied pointing to the camera on the corner of the building that pointed at the project D cars.

When the manager of the hotel came out he knew that things were going to be very bad no matter how he broke the news to the four people standing in front of him.

"Here is the picture of the people who did this," He said handing the picture to Ryosuke, who took a long look at it.

"David, do you recognize these two?" he asked putting the picture in David's hand.

"I do these two are pretty notorious around here, and I know just where we'll find them too, we'll get these two at the races tonight," David said through gritted teeth anger very evident in his tone.

Once Akari calmed down they all drove to the parking area where the street racing event of the year was happening and parked Project D and Akari's damaged FD with the Timber Wolves instead of across from them.

"Everyone, be on the lookout, Akari just try and not kill them if you see them," David said with a serious tone.

As the night progressed no one challenged either team but often came over to tell the two teams what they'd heard about Akari's car and the two who did it. Most even apologized for the disrespectful manner in which she and her car were treated.

During the police shift change two new cars pulled into the parking area, a bright yellow Nissan 350Z, and a brand new white Nissan GT-R. The entire parking area seemed to go quiet as if time was standing still while the two cars made their way through, by now everyone knew these two had gone after a fellow street racer's car with a bat.

David walked over to the two cars with all eyes in the parking area on them. Everyone seemed to collectively inhale and hold their breath as two big guys climbed out of the driver's seats of the two cars wearing huge grins on their faces not noticing the eerie quiet surrounding them, not even the sounds of the car's stereos were heard.

"Welcome to the event, I don't believe we've met, I'm David Crandon, leader of the Timber Wolves team," the blonde said not knowing where his steady tone was coming from considering the pure anger he was really feeling.

"Well I don't care who you are, we just came to hang out and race," The GT-R driver said shoving David's hand away.

"You won't be racing anyone tonight, you two went after a car in this parking lot with a bat for no reason, and everyone here knows it."

"I don't know what you're talking about punk so back off," The GT-R driver once again replied as he pushed David to the ground.

The entire Timber Wolves team and Project D jumped into a run with Emily and Akari leading the way with Pops and Jason close behind. David stood up and waved his friends off before they could get to the two cars and their drivers.

"Fine then, lets settle this my way then, two races for pink slips, losers walk home from Cleveland County," David said his tone starting to show the anger he was feeling.

"Who's the second driver?" the 350Z's driver asked finally joining the conversation.

"Him," David said pointing at Pops and his Lan-Evo VIII.

The two drivers went back over to their cars and the parking area seemed to come back to life as time seemed to resume and everyone let out their collective breath. David and the entire group that were there with him walked back to the large group of cars.

"David, let Akari make this run," Pops said with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Mac you're right again, I should let Akari make this run, but she could very easily cut a tire with that quarter panel as is, I don't want that to happen," David said in his 'no arguing' tone.

Keisuke did something no one expected, the bleach blonde threw his keys to Akari.

"Don't you dare lose," he said turning away before anyone could try to talk him out of it.

David and Ryosuke both gave an approving nod as Akari climbed into the driver's seat of the yellow mica FD. The rusted Torino came to life with the roar of a lion drowning out the exhaust of the other car.

"Akari, remember this car is wider than your own FD," Fumihiro said through the window after no one else seemed concerned with the fact, "It should be easy for both of you but like Keisuke said, don't you dare lose."

"This is a clear course pink slip race, two cars at a time first up the Timber Wolves Torino against the Nissan GT-R," The announcer shouted as the two cars pulled up to the line.

Both cars took off at the same time, the Torino going into a low wheel stand before simply walking away from the other car. By the time the GT-R reached the finish line David had opened a nearly twenty second gap and was out of his car when it pulled into the lot.

"Alright, the first race is over the Timber Wolves won it," the announcer said through the bull horn just before the entire parking area erupted into cheers and applause, once things calmed he announced the second race, "The second race is going to be Akari of Project D in the yellow FD against the yellow Z33."

The crowd once again went silent as the two cars lined up waiting for the start, both engines roaring loudly as the starting man stepped out between the two cars. The Nissan's engine seemed quiet next to the enraged roar of the FD's rotary engine as they took off from the line like two bullets from a gun, the FD leading the way.

As the two cars made their way through the tight corners of the course Akari drifted the first few corners to get used to the differences between her car and Keisuke's, but they were only a half mile from the starting line and she loved every inch of this car. The brown haired girl floored the accelerator and left the Nissan sucking on exhaust fumes and dust as she tore through curve after curve without taking her foot off the floor.

"Keisuke, why did you lend Akari your car?" Emily asked after finding him in one of the vans.

"Because two years ago Project D went up against a couple of cheaters, Kyoko saved me when she showed up in her FD, I figured why not save someone else the way she saved me," Keisuke said without a shred of any emotion but honesty in his tone.

"So you do have a heart after all," Emily chuckled as she walked away from the younger man.

On the course the yellow Mazda was holding a three second gap between it and the Nissan that was barely a spec in its rear view mirror. The brown haired girl at the wheel of the Mazda pushed her foot a little closer to the floor each time they came out of a corner as they moved into the section where they had no street lights to light their way.

"Now we have some fun," Akari said as once again she pushed the yellow FD harder only to find out the car still had more to give.

The gap began to open again as they flew through this section of the course, David managed to hear that the gap going in was three seconds, at the half way mark of the unlit section the gap had already opened to five seconds.

"Geez, she is flying," David said throwing the keys to his new GT-R into the air while the pink slip rested in his coat pocket.

The yellow FD crossed the finish line and had just enough time to park next to the rusted Torino before the opposing Nissan came across the finish line, as Akari climbed out of the FD she had a grin from ear to ear on her face.

"So what will you do with your new Nissan Z33 Akari?" David asked loud enough for the other driver to hear as he walked over with an angry look on his face.

"Think I'll sell it for parts so I can fix my FD," the brown haired girl responded with a laugh.

"No you won't, you said that FD isn't yours, which means you should never have been able to drive it that way," The Z33 driver screamed as he walked over to the two people.

"Actually the fact I drive a nearly identical FD, and the fact I've driven five different ones says I can drive this one any way I want to," Akari said with an ice cold tone.

David was only slightly taken back by her tone, he had heard it before but this seemed different somehow, she was still pissed and something was about to happen, the blonde just couldn't figure out what.

Akari walked calmly towards the bigger man and looked up into his eyes, before bringing his eyes down to her line of sight with a swift kick in the man's groin.

David flinched slightly before walking over to the girl who now wore a satisfied grin on her face as the Nissan's driver handed his keys to her.

"That was for hitting my Timber Wolves sticker, me taking your car is for you pounding my fender in," Akari said looking over her shoulder.

Before the two headed back they walked around looking for a pair of drivers for the two cars they had just won.

"David, I heard you call Pops by the name Mac, is he the one who gave you the 300ZX you told me and Emily about in Japan?" Akari asked as they walked.

"Yeah, he's also the man I took the team from way back when, he stayed on cause he knew everyone and I didn't then, why he's still here now I couldn't really tell you," David said with a chuckle.

Once the pair found two drivers for their new cars, the FD and Torino made their way back to the main parking area with the two Nissan's close behind with the volunteer drivers behind their steering wheels. When the four cars pulled into the lot the crowds once again broke into applause and cheers. Once they parked Akari tossed Keisuke his keys back as the two volunteers tossed the keys to the two Nissan's to David.

"She's a great ride, I think I'm going to set mine up in a similar fashion," Akari said while Keisuke inspected the car.

Everything went back to normal for the rest of the night, including people challenging the Timber Wolves and Project D. Akari used her new Z33 to race in since her FD was torn up. The two guys that beat up her FD were arrested in the parking area at the courses end for vandalism and willful destruction of private property, and a few other charges that had nothing to do with the races.

"Yo David, you've got that spiffy new GT-R why not use it in a race with me tonight?" Tom, the graying man who was calling the races for the night, asked in a kind tone as he walked towards the team.

"Sure, why not Tom, I've got nothing better, hope your old Nissan can handle the beating though," David said as he walked towards the white Nissan.

"You know they still called it Datsun here that year right?" the graying man asked as he back stepped a couple times. The question went unanswered.

The two Nissans met on the starting line, a brand new white GT-R sitting next to a blue 1976 280Z.

As the cars revved against each other on the line everyone stopped to watch the start of what would be the last race of the event.

"We have the Timber Wolves new Nissan GT-R facing off against our very own announcer this evening leader of the Blue Lightning team," a voice rang out from near the start line just before the two cars launched onto the course.

As the cars entered the first corners of the course David fell behind the blue 280Z.

"Shouldn't have taken this one I guess, forgot that damn car of his handles like that," the blonde said through gritted teeth as he watched the smaller car fly through the corners ahead of him.

As the two cars passed the second blocked corner David finally was getting a feel for how the GT-R moved and felt.

"Alright, now we race," David said with a smirk as he punched the accelerator to the floorboard.

As the two cars approached the next blocked corner David maneuvered the GT-R to the outside line.

"Not gonna work on me kid," Tom said as he slammed on the brakes to block David from slipping behind to the inside line.

David pulled the steering wheel hard right and pulled the emergency brake for the first time in at least three years, allowing the back of the GT-R to slide out before releasing it and flooring the throttle and drifting through the outside to take the lead.

"Damn that kid is nuts," Tom said as he exhaled the breath he'd taken just before the turn as he watched the white car in front of him begin to pull ahead slightly.

David sat behind the wheel of the GT-R trying not to think of how he'd done what he had without crashing into the police car as they approached some of the harder corners he floored the throttle and listened the 3.8L Twin Turbo engine sing.

As they approached the last quarter of the course, now called 'blackout' section thanks to David and Takumi's no headlight driving, David shut the lights of the GT-R off and drove by his memory as Takumi had done, the blonde could hear the 280Z getting closer to his bumper so he pushed the pedal to the floor and hoped for the best.

As the two cars approached the finish both engines could be heard but only one car could be seen, the 280Z.

"Where's the Timber Wolf?" Someone shouted from the crowd just before the headlights of the GT-R came back on and crossed the line just ahead of the 280Z.

The crowd at the line was freaking out, all manner of questions were being asked as the GT-R parked in one of the spots reserved for cars coming off the course.

"Nice conversation we were having back there, why'd you go and spoil it?" Tom asked as the race official approached the two men.

"I had to win, my teammates wouldn't respect me if I didn't Tom, yours do anyway," David said with a laugh before the official could speak.

"Well David, looks like the Timber Wolves take this tournament in team wins, that's if you're counting this as a team race," the official said shaking the blonde's hand.

"Nah, this was a fun one," David said before turning back towards his car.

"Were you guys really talking back there on the course?" the official asked before the two men could get back in their cars.

"Yeah, we got bored so we talked," Tom said with a laugh as both he and David got back in their cars and drove off.

The Timber Wolves took overall individual wins in the tournament and second in over all team wins, losing out to Project D by two races. The event ended with a fireworks show set up by one of the other teams participating.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Akari sold the Z33 after David took its non factory turbo off, and replaced it with the factory header the previous owner kept in its trunk. The price she got for the car fixed the FD's quarter panel and a few other small scratches and the tail lamp as well as the new paint job. Project D and guests returned to Japan a week after the FD was fixed up and Ryosuke racing David one last time and for the third time the two men tied.

Three months after the tournament of counties David and Emily walked through the doors of Narita Airport looking for Mr. Yokama's grabber orange1970 Mustang in the short stay parking lot. The two drove into Shibukawa straight to the Tofu shop where Bunta and Takumi Fujiwara were waiting. Emily then drove to Natsuki's house after leaving David with the two men.

"We came straight from the airport, so how long do we have before the wedding?" David asked walking through the kitchen area into the main living space.

"A couple days yet, I hope you brought your tux with you," Takumi said with a chuckle.

At Natsuki's home Emily and Akari were admiring Kyoko's engagement ring that a certain spiky haired, bleach blonde had given her, and getting Natsuki calmed down enough to eat something.

"Natsuki, come on Emily just got back to Japan, at least sit and eat with us," Akari pleaded as she took the phone out of the bride's hand.

"But we only have two days left and my dress hasn't come in yet and the bakery hasn't confirmed my order yet…" Natsuki said before Akari semi forcefully sat her down at the table and put a plate of food down in front of her.

"Eat, I'll take care of the details sweetie," Akari said in her 'no arguing' tone as she walked out of the room dialing the number for the bakery.

Two days after the chaos of David coming back to Japan with his wife and things getting straightened out with the caterers and bakery with Akari's help, Takumi stood in front of a church full of people wearing a black tuxedo, and a white tie. David and Keisuke stood next to him as the grooms men while Itsuki stood as best man all three wearing black tuxedos with white ties.

Natsuki came down the aisle on her father's arm wearing a beautiful empire cut dress with quarter lace sleeves, and a neck line that showed off a reasonable amount of cleavage. The dress also had a design embroidered in the bodice that went up both shoulder pieces.

When her father gave her away he went to his seat as Takumi and Natsuki took the three short steps towards the minister. The minister began with a short prayer and then started the official ceremony completely in Japanese.

"Ladies and Gentlemen we are gathered here today to join, Natsuki Mogi and Takumi Fujiwara in the bonds of holy matrimony until the end of time," he said with a smile looking towards Takumi and Natsuki, "These two have decided to forgo writing their own vows, so we'll get to the ceremony."

"Natsuki, do you take Takumi Fujiwara to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer?"

"I do," the brown haired girl replied with a smile from ear to ear when she slipped the ring on Takumi's finger.

"Takumi, do you take Natsuki Mogi to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer?"

"I do," Takumi said with the same grin as he too slipped the gold wedding band onto Natsuki's ring finger.

The couple was announced as they walked back down the aisle to the waiting 86 and the two FD's belonging to Akari, the maid of honor, and Kyoko Iwase.

After the rest of the wedding party filed out the three cars took off with David in his former bosses 1970 Mustang, and Itsuki's turbo 85 close behind. They drove all the way to the hotels at the top of Mt. Akina for the reception.

Once they were out of the cars the wedding party went about discussing different techniques that they had been working on since David and Emily left. Takumi even brought up replacing the 86 for something with more power since he was driving in a GT300 car already.

During the reception everything went as planned, even the bride and groom's first dance. After the formalities were handled, David met up with Project D at Akagi.

"So Ryosuke what's going to happen now?" David asked leaning on the grabber orange Mustang.

"I have a position teaching at Todo Juke, they seemed more than happy to have me on the team after Project D beat them twice," The brown haired man replied with a slight chuckle.

"Keisuke and I are getting married in a week, so if you can stay that would be nice," Kyoko said getting a happy nod from both David and Emily.

David walked away from the group after motioning Ryosuke to follow him. When the two men were standing out of ear shot they stopped and stood facing one another for a short time.

"One race down Akagi, for old time's sake?" David asked with a chuckle.

"Maybe, once you get the real reason you asked me over here out in the open," the slightly taller man said with half a smirk.

"What got you so happy before you boys came over to America with me?"

"Just my cousin Tsugumi, she had to practically shove me out the door to go over there, and the fact that she wants to step into navigating from the passenger seat."

"No way, has to be a girlfriend, I've never seen you laugh before."

"Tsugumi is the only girl right now, and I'm her tutor," Ryosuke replied sounding more serious than before.

"Alright, let's just race so we don't kill each other here in the parking lot," the blonde said before walking back towards the Mustang.

Everyone was staring at the 86 where neither Takumi nor Natsuki had gotten out of since the group arrived at the summit. David gave Emily a knowing look and a sly grin when he noticed the windows of the little car were fogged over just a little. David motioned for the group to move in closer to him, and he explained just a small prank since the 86 was behind the other four cars.

Once everyone was in place David gave the signal, and all four cars started up at once with a very loud roar. The 86 practically jumped back an inch when its occupants herd the noise. Keisuke fell on the ground laughing as the other drivers climbed out of the cars with smirks plastered on their faces, Ryosuke included.

A week later David and Emily attended Kyoko and Keisuke's wedding the day before returning to the states. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception, but David and Emily had to get to the airport to catch their flight and were unable to stay as long as they wanted.

Two months later they received an email from Akari that detailed everything that had been going on in the two months since the two weddings.

_Hey David and Emily,_

_I hate that I don't get to write as much as I used to but I have a job with Ryosuke at the Todo Juke racing school, it appears that I'm just at good at teaching as I am driving these things, The FD had an over haul about a week ago, it's now pretty much a blue version of Keisuke's._

_Speaking of Keisuke and Kyoko, they just found out that they're going to have a child come autumn, they're both very excited about it, and are out getting the car ready for the racing season which starts in a couple of weeks._

_Takumi and Natsuki are still driving around in the 86 most of the time he's out of the GT300 car. His season started in the middle of last month, he's already had two podium finishes and a win so he's still got the famous Fujiwara luck. _

_Ryosuke still drives his FC down Akagi every once upon a time so I guess things are going smoothly hope we hear from you soon._

_Akari_

_P.S. I'll be in your area for a few days at the end of next month for something the Todo Juke proposed we try, so I'll come see you._

David wrote a reply detailing that they also had just found out Emily was pregnant, and that the Torino had finally been painted in its original color, grabber blue and that the Chevelle won a few awards in a couple of local shows. He also included that he still had the GT-R that he had won off the two guys that beat up Akari's FD and that he had a new garage built to store all of his cars while Emily's S15 and Mercedes sedan stayed in the houses original two car garage.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Two years had gone by since Emily and David had gone to Japan, the Timber Wolves were still the most prominent team in Gaston County, North Carolina taking home two more overall wins in the tournament of counties in those two years. The pair was heading to Japan with their nearly two year old daughter named Akari sitting between them.

When they arrived at the airport Takumi and Natsuki were waiting for them outside Narita Airport, and Takumi had a one and a half year old boy in his arms.

"So this little cutie must be Akari," Natsuki said after all the hugs, handshakes and such were done.

Akari was very shy, and she didn't speak any language but English so this made things interesting when going out of country.

"Akari say hello sweetie," Emily encouraged as the small blonde girl stood quietly between her and her father.

"Hello," the girl said quietly before slipping in behind her father's leg.

"So this must be little Suko," David said taking hold of the small child, and carrying him to the car seat in the GC8 that still belonged to Bunta Fujiwara, "Have you two not gotten a new car yet?"

"He's still looking," Natsuki said with a grin.

"It's not easy finding a car that would replace the car you grew up as a driver in," Emily said coming to Takumi's aid, "I wouldn't let you replace my S15."

David went off to find the car his former boss had once again left for him to use, when he found the 1970 grabber orange Mustang Boss 429 it was resting peacefully between two full size SUVs. Like a professional David maneuvered the large machine out of its space and began driving towards the spaces where Emily and the others were waiting. He didn't even take notice of the note on the dash board until he got to his wife and friends.

_Come see me this time, I have important news for you about this car._

_Mrs. Yokama._

'_Wonder why she wrote the note,'_ David thought as he climbed out of the car holding the note.

"Takumi, I need to go over to Maebashi for a while, can we meet you out at Akagi?" David asked knowing he would just do it anyway.

"Sure, I'll tell Ryosuke to go ahead and work the rest of the day instead of getting off early," the black haired man said without questioning why.

Emily and Akari climbed into the well maintained vehicle as the blue Impreza drove out of the area. David headed straight to his Japanese boss' home. When they arrived Mrs. Yokama met them at the garage door, she had been crying.

"He wanted you to have that car, he knew you would take fantastic care of it just as he did," she said between staggered breaths as she handed him the Japanese title for the mustang signed and ready to be transferred to a new owner's name.

They spent several hours consoling the older woman as she explained what had happened to David's favorite boss. The man had suffered a severe heart attack on his way home, it was no one's fault and no one could have stopped it. Apparently it was one of those one in a million things that had just happened to hit Mr. Yokama this time.

When David and Emily finally arrived at Akagi's mountain pass it was nearly dark, and the Mustang was already legally theirs in Japan and arrangements to have it taken back to America had been made. They spotted Akari's blue FD, and Ryosuke's white FC, the blue GC8 and a car David assumed was Kyoko and Keisuke's family mover since Keisuke's yellow FD was parked next to the sedan.

"Keisuke, who is this pretty young lady?" David asked offering a hand to the small brown haired girl holding the still spiky haired bleach blonde's pant leg.

"Go and say hello Tsugumi," Kyoko said as the small version of herself tried to hide behind her father.

"Just like our little Akari, shy to the last second," Emily chuckled since the very young blonde was hanging onto her father's pant leg.

Once all the children were introduced the adults of the group began talking about the situation with the Mustang and who all was supposedly going to be at this little get together of theirs.

"So all of Project D is here, where are Itsuki, Iketani and Kenji, they were supposed to be here weren't they?" David asked as he watched Fumihiro, Matsumoto and Tomiguchi pull into the parking area.

"Itsuki and Iketani got stuck working, and Kenji had a date or something," Takumi said with his usual blank tone.

The members of Project D and the Akagi Timber Wolves and their children just hung around the parking area and talked about, what were rapidly becoming the good ole days. David and Ryosuke raced one last time and again came up a draw at the line.

"So why can't you beat him Ryosuke?" Fumihiro asked as the two men arrived back at the top.

"We wouldn't tell you if either of us won anyway so why does that matter?" David asked before he and Ryosuke began laughing together.

Fin.


End file.
